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THE 


CHINESE  PROBLEM 


L.  T.  TOWNSEND,  D.  D., 

AUTHOR   OF    "LOST    KUREVEK,"     "  CREDO,"    "  GOD-MAN,"    KTC. 


BOSTON: 
LEE    AND    SHEPARD,   PUBLISHERS. 

NEW   Y  o  K  K  : 

CHARLES    T.    DILLINGHAM. 
1876. 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


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LEE  &  SHEPARD,  PUBLISHERS,  BOSTON. 


THE 


CHINESE  PROBLEM. 


BY 


L.  T.  TOWNSEND,  D.  D., 

AUTHOR  OF  "LOST  FOREVER,"    "  CREDO,"    " GOD-MAN,"  ETC 


BOSTON: 
LEE  AND  SHEPARD,  PUBLISHERS. 

NEW  YORK: 

CHARLES    T.   DILLINGHAM. 
1876. 


"if 


Jf.    ®. 


Electrotyped  at  the  Boston  Stereotype  Foundry, 
19  Spring  Lane. 


C 


PREFACE. 


DURING  the  summer  of  1875,  while  on 
the  Pacific  coast,  and  while  enjoying  rare 
opportunities  for  gaining  information,  we 
made  the  matters  involved  in  this  pamphlet 
objects  of  as  critical  inquiry  and  study  as 
the  case  would  then  allow. 

The  recent  hostile  demonstrations  against 
the  Chinese  in  California  induced  us  to  pre 
pare  for  the  religious  press  a  few  articles 
bearing  the  foregoing  title.  At  the  solici 
tation  of  persons  interested  in  these  mat 
ters,  also  in  view  of  the  more  recent 
efforts  in  the  United  States  Senate  to  in- 

3 


4  PREFACE. 

duce  the  government  to  modify  the  exist 
ing  treaty  with  China,  likewise  on  the 
grounds  of  philanthropy  and  Christianity, 
we  have  been  led  to  this  pamphlet-form 
of  publication. 

L.    T.    TOWNSEND. 
BOSTON  UNIVERSITY,  May,  1876. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

I.    INTERNATIONAL  POLITICS 8 

II.    POLITICAL  ECONOMY 19 

III.    EDUCATION 33 

IV.    MORALS 42 

V.    CONVERSION  TO  CHRISTIANITY 58 

5 


THE 


CHINESE    PROBLEM. 


THE  fevered  state  of  the  public  mind  upon 
the  Pacific  coast,  induced  by  Chinese  immi 
gration,  and  by  their  alleged  monopoly  of 
the  various  avocations,  is  such  as  to  engage 
somewhat  our  attention  upon  the  Atlantic 
coast,  though  our  financial  and  commercial 
turmoils  are  of  a  character  to  prevent  us, 
at  present,  from  catching,  in  anything  like 
a  violent  form,  this  California  epidemic.  At 
a  later  day,  however,  we  maybe  led  to  listen 
to  the  urgent  appeals  of  a  sister  state,  and 
may  therefore  now  study  the  case  calmly, 
that  we  can  then  act  intelligently  and  ad 
visedly.  That  the  question  may  be  looked 
at  in  detail,  we  subdivide  it  into  five  topics. 

7 


8  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 


I. 


THE  CHINESE  AND  INTERNATIONAL 
POLITICS. 

IT  is  not  our  purpose  to  enter  upon  the 
general  question  whether  or  not  the  policy 
of  unlimited  immigration,  and  of  a  well-nigh 
unrestricted  franchise,  are  best  for  a  national 
government  like  ours ;  these  are  matters 
which  time  must  now  be  left  to  pass  its  de 
cisions  upon.*  The  position  we  are  com- 

*  On  political  grounds,  the  attitude  of  Alexander 
Hamilton,  while  defending  Washington's  proclamation 
of  neutrality,  might  have  been  better,  perhaps,  than  the 
course  the  nation  has  been  pursuing;  but  upon  the 
broad  ground  of  Christian  philanthropy  Mr.  Hamilton's 
views  need  modification.  The  following  is  the  state 
ment  referred  to :  — 

"  Instances  of  conferring  benefits  from  kind  and  be 
nevolent  dispositions  of  feelings  towards  the  person 
benefited,  without  any  other  interest  on  the  part  of  the 
person  who  renders  the  service  than  the  pleasure  of  do 
ing  a  good  action,  occur  every  day  among  individuals. 
But  among  nations  they  perhaps  never  occur.  It  may 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  9 

pelled  to  take,  however,  is  this  :  unless  there 
shall  be  such  a  radical  reconstruction  of  the 
entire  genius  of  our  American  republican 
institutions  as  to  make  our  national  policy, 
if  not  our  entire  body  politic,  essentially  and 
fundamentally  different  from  what  it  has 
been  during  the  past  century,  then  it  is  sim 
ply  impossible  for  our  government  to  say  to 
any  foreign  people,  You  are  interdicted, 

be  affirmed  as  a  general  principle  that  the  predominant 
motive  of  good  offices  from  one  nation  to  another  is  the 
interest  or  advantage  of  the  nation  which  performs 
them. 

"  Indeed,  the  rule  of  morality  in  this  respect  is  not  pre 
cisely  the  same  between  nations  as  between  individuals. 
The  duty  of  making  its  own  welfare  the  guide  of  its 
actions  is  much  stronger  upon  the  former  than  upon 
the  latter,  in  proportion  to  the  greater  magnitude  and 
importance  of  national,  compared  with  individual  hap 
piness,  and  to  the  greater  permanency  of  the  effects  of 
national  than  of  individual  conduct.  Existing  millions, 
and  for  the  most  part  future  generations,  are  concerned 
in  the  present  measures  of  a  government;  while  the 
consequences  of  the  private  actions  of  an  individual 
ordinarily  terminate  with  himself,  or  are  circumscribed 
within  a  narrow  compass. 

"  Whence  it  follows  that  an  individual  may,  on  numer 
ous  occasions,  meritoriously  indulge  the  emotions  of 
generosity  and  benevolence,  not  only  without  an  eye  to, 
but  even  at  the  expense  of,  his  own  interest.  But  a 


IO  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

and  cannot  dwell  within  our  borders.  Should 
such  a  mandate  be  issued  by  the  general 
government,  and  should  such  prohibitory 
attempts  be  made  and  become  successful 
during  the  present  year,  American  republi 
canism,  with  her  boasted  free  institutions, 
would  be  just  one  hundred  years  old  at  its 
death. 

The  United  States,  as  now  constituted, 
with  our  historic  announcements  and  prece- 

government  can  rarely,  if  at  all,  be  justifiable  in  pursu 
ing  a  similar  course ;  and,  if  it  does  so,  ought  to  confine 
itself  within  much  stricter  bounds.  Good  offices  which 
are  indifferent  to  the  interest  of  a  nation  performing 
them,  or  which  are  compensated  by  the  existence  or  ex 
pectation  of  some  reasonable  equivalent,  or  which  pro 
duce  an  essential  good  to  the  nation  to  which  they  are 
rendered,  without  real  detriment  to  the  affairs  of  the 
benefactors,  prescribe,  perhaps,  the  limits  of  national 
generosity  or  benevolence. 

,"  It  is  not  here  meant  to  recommend  a  policy  abso 
lutely  selfish  or  interested  in  nations ;  but  to  show  that 
a  policy  regulated  by  their  own  interest,  as  far  as  justice 
and  good  faith  permit,  is  and  ought  to  be  their  prevail 
ing  one.  This  conclusion  derives  confirmation  from 
the  reflection  that  under  every  form  of  government  rul 
ers  are  only  trustees  for  the  happiness  and  interest  of 
their  nation,  and  cannot,  consistently  with  their  trust, 
follow  the  suggestions  of  kindness  or  humanity  towards 
others  to  the  prejudice  of  their  constituents." 


THE   CHINESE    PROBLEM.  II 

dents,  will  not  therefore,  we  trust,  make  the 
grave  political  blunder  of  saying  to  the  na 
tions  as  a  whole,  You  are  forbidden ;  still 
more,  if  we  mistake  not,  will  the  govern 
ment  hesitate  to  say  to  any  nation  in  partic 
ular,  You  are  forbidden  a  home  upon  this 
soil.  If  we  are  in  peril,  as  perhaps  we  are, 
we  are  to  escape  by  other  means  than  through 
international  interdiction,  especially  when 
such  prohibition  is  in  the  least  discriminat 
ing.  To  admit  Englishmen  and  exclude 
Chinamen  from  our  country  without  a  defi 
nite  or  adequate  provocation, — which  cer 
tainly  does  not  now  exist,  —  would  be  a 
violation  of  international  rights  sufficient  to 
bring  upon  us  the  just  condemnation  of  all 
people  on  earth. 

But  applying  this  principle  more  directly 
to  the  case  in  hand,  it  will  be  found  that  dis 
crimination  against  the  Chinese  would  be 
wrongful  in  the  extreme.  They  were  a  home- 
loving  and  exclusive  people.  They  had  no 
desire  to  overrun  either  Europe  or  America  ; 
nor  did  they  wish  to  be  overrun  by  us. 
Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  up  to  with 
in  about  twenty  years. 


12  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

At  this  point  certain  facts  may  be  stated 
briefly.  The  East  India  Company  had  a 
trading-post  at  Canton,  China,  the  most 
profitable  article  of  sale  being  opium.  The 
Chinese  government,  seeing  the  damage  to 
the  morals  and  health  of  her  subjects  re 
sulting  from  the  use  of  that  tempting  and 
pernicious  drug,  wisely  sought  to  put  a  stop 
to  the  trade.  Finding  that  all  other  efforts 
were  ineffectual,  they  destroyed  a  large 
amount  stored  in  Canton.  Then  followed 
one  of  the  most  unprovoked  and  iniquitous 
wars  on  record.  The  East  India  Company, 
for  the  purposes  of  hoarding  money,  backed 
by  the  British  government,  seeking  to  in 
crease  her  revenues,  was  the  prime  mover, 
compelling  China,  at  length,  to  make  a 
treaty  such  as  would  open  that  country  to 
all  English  subjects.  France  and  Russia 
joined  England.  But  that  those  govern 
ments  might  have  no  advantage  over  us, 
we,  through  Mr.  Burlingame,  were  included 
under  the  same  treaty,  the  terms  of  which, 
bearing  especially  upon  the  subject  before 
us,  are  found  in  the  following  articles  :  — 


THE   CHINESE   PROBLEM.  13 

"  ARTICLE  V. 

"The  United  States  of  America  and  the  Emperor 
of  China  cordially  recognize  the  inherent  and  inaliena 
ble  rights  of  man  to  change  his  home  and  allegiance, 
and  also  the  mutual  advantage  of  free  migration  and 
emigration  of  their  citizens  and  subjects  respectively 
from  the  one  country  to  the  other,  for  purposes  of  cu 
riosity,  of  trade,  or  as  permanent  residents.  The  high 
contracting  parties  therefore  join  in  reprobating  any 
other  than  an  entirely  voluntary  emigration  for  these 
purposes.  They  consequently  agree  to  pass  laws 
making  it  a  penal  offence  for  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  or  Chinese  subjects  to  take  Chinese  subjects 
either  to  the  United  States  or  to  any  foreign  country, 
or  for  a  Chinese  subject  or  citizen  of  the  United  States 
to  take  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  China,  or  to  any 
other  foreign  country,  without  their  free  and  voluntary 
consent,  respectively. 

"ARTICLE  VI. 

"  Citizens  of  the  United  States  visiting  or  residing 
in  China  shall  enjoy  the  same  privileges,  immunities, 
and  exemptions,  in  respect  to  travel  or  residence,  as 
may  there  be  enjoyed  by  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  the 
most  favored  nation :  and,  reciprocally,  Chinese  sub 
jects  visiting  or  residing  in  the  United  States  shall  en 
joy  the  same  privileges,  immunities,  and  exemptions,  in 
respect  to  travel  or  residence,  as  may  there  be  enjoyed 
by  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  the  most  favored  nation. 
But  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  held  to  confer 
naturalization  upon  citizens  of  the  United  States  in 
China,  nor  upon  the  subjects  of  China  in  the  United 
States." 


14  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

We  may  add  that  the  treaty  in  general 
also  stipulates  that  "  any  person,  either  citi 
zen  of  the  country  with  which  the  treaty  is 
made,  or  Chinese  convert  to  the  faith  of  the 
Protestant  or  Roman  Catholic  churches,  who, 
according  to  the  tenets  of  said  churches, 
peaceably  teaches  and  preaches  the  prin 
ciples  of  Christianity,  shall  in  no  case  be 
interfered  with  nor  molested." 

No  one  denies  that  the  involved  obligations 
have  been  kept  as  sacredly  by  China  as  by 
America ;  nay,  it  has  been  safer  for  Ameri 
cans  to  travel  through  China  than  for  Chi 
namen  to  travel  the  Pacific  coast. 

Our  treaty  with  the  Chinese  government, 
therefore,  wras  an  arrangement  not  sought 
by  the  Chinese  ;  it  is  a  table  not  of  their  set 
ting,  but  of  our  own.  Though  repugnant 
to  them,  they  have  faithfully  complied. 
Their  dominant  instincts,  however,  remain. 
Their  desires  are  still  to  be  let  alone.  It  is 
already  a  standing  reply  of  intelligent  Chi 
nese  to  complaints  made  against  them,  "We 
will  leave  your  country,  if  you  will  leave 
ours.  The  United  States  joined  in  breaking 
down  our  walls  and  opening  our  ports  and 
cities  for  commerce.  You  cannot  complain 


THE    CHINESE   PROBLEM.  15 

if  we  pass  out  through  the  breaches  which 
3rou  have  made." 

They  have  been  trying,  with  not  a  little 
success,  to  make  the  best  of  measures  they 
were  compelled  to  adopt.  And  now  that 
these  people  are  seeming  to  reap  substantial 
benefits  from  those  riational  contracts  and 
compacts,  which  we  expected  would  chiefly 
subserve  our  own  interests,  is  it  very  becom 
ing  and  manly  in  us  to  sicken  of  the  trade 
and  attempt  to  throw  up  the  bargain?  Such 
conduct  may  be  overlooked  among  unfledged 
boys,  but  not  among  men,  and  especially 
not  among  nations  whose  people  are  num 
bered  by  millions. 

When,  therefore,  a  United  States  senator 
pleads  for  the  prohibition  of  Chinese  immi 
gration  upon  the  ground,  for  instance,  that 
adjoining  pieces  of  real  estate  are  unfavora 
bly  affected  by  Chinese  ownership,  he  will 
hardly  help  the  cause  he  is  attempting  to 
maintain,  especially  in  the  minds  of  thinking 
people.  All  reasonable  men  will  ask,  What 
if  real  estate  is  thus  damaged?  What  if  it 
is  worth  literally  nothing  after  a  Chinaman 
receives  his  deed  therefor?  Is  the  national 


l6  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

government  to  interfere  when  real  estate 
owners  and  brokers  become  sick  of  their 
transactions?  and  is  it  to  demand  the  abro 
gation  of  a  treaty,  or  stop  immigration,  be 
cause  Washington  Street,  San  Francisco,  is 
no  longer  a  promenade  for  aristocratic  la 
dies  ?  Apply  the  reasoning  for  a  moment. 
Our  American  people  quickly  retire  from 
localities  which  are  densely  populated  by 
the  lower  class  of  Germans  ;  they  also  aban 
don  streets  where  negroes  are  numerous. 
The  pleasanter  parts  of  Boston  —  the  north 
ern  and  western  slopes  of  Beacon  Hill  — 
are  thus  affected.  Likewise  Irish  settle 
ments  are  as  exclusive,  and  the  sections  as 
much  under  bane  by  their  presence,  as  is 
any  street  in  San  Francisco  by  reason  of  the 
Chinese.  Therefore,  Germans,  Africans, 
Irishmen,  and  indeed  the  down-trodden  of 
every  nation  on  the  globe,  are  to  be  excluded 
from  American  soil !  We  sincerely  hope 
that  our  government  has  other  interests  to 
engage  its  legislation,  and  will  leave  these 
matters  where  they  belong. 

If,  however,  Californians  ask  us  what  is 
to  be  done  to  prevent  San  Francisco  from 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  1 7 

becoming  an  "Asiatic  city,"  we  reply  that 
there  is  no  difficulty,  in  the  way.  They  are 
to  do  there  as  people  sometimes  do  in  New 
England  —  simply  not  sell  their  property  to 
undesirable  neighbors.  The  government 
of  the  United  States  cannot,  and  should  not 
attempt  to  prevent  San  Francisco  from  be 
coming  completely  Asiatic,  if  the  people  of 
San  Francisco  are  so  thirsty  for  money  and 
so  eager  for  speculation  as  to  dispose  of  their 
property  to  Asiatic  immigrants.. 

Looking  upon  this  subject  from  almost  any 
point  of  view,  especially  when  considering 
it  in  the  light  of  a  cultivated  and  ennobled 
manhood,  there  remains  nothing  for  the 
general  government  to  do,  politically,  but  to 
lawfully  enforce  the  provisions  of  the  treaty, 
if  not  already  complied  with,  and  await  the 
issues.  At  all  events,  upon  the  broad 
grounds  of  international  rights  and  integri 
ty,  we  are  fast  held  ;  our  political  blundering 
and  shortsightedness,  if  we  are  guilty,  are 
not  to  be  corrected  in  the  way  proposed  by 
Californians.  International  questions,  in 
which  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Russia 
are  deeply  interested,  are  involved.  There- 

2 


l8  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

fore,  when  there  comes  up  this,  which  we 
regard  as  an  exaggerated  alarm-cry  from 
California,  with  the  request  to  abrogate  the 
Burlingame  treaty  and  forbid  Chinese  im 
migration,  we  are  forced  to  answer  that  the 
American  people  as  a  body  —  and,  as  we 
hope,  the  nations  of  the  earth  —  will  not  for 
a  moment  countenance  such  a  manifest  act 
of  injustice  and  such  an  unwarranted  breach 
of  international  obligations,  though  the 
whole  Pacific  coast  has  to  be  abandoned  to 
Chinese  immigration.  Our  national  honor 
is  worth  immensely  more  than  all  the  gold 
and  wealth  of  California. 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  19 


II. 

THE  CHINESE  AND  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

IT  is  upon  the  grounds  of  political  econ 
omy  that  opposition  to  the  Chinaman  has 
taken  its  deepest  popular,  though  perhaps 
not  its  only  root.  They  are  not  charged 
with  engaging  in  political  issues.  Of  the 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  on 
the  Pacific  coast,  but  one  has  as  yet  asked 
the  rights  of  franchise  ;  and  upon  him  those 
rights  were  conferred  because  they  could  not 
be  refused.  They  do  not  meddle  with  our 
religious  nor  with  our  educational  methods ; 
they  neither  ask  to  have  the  Bible  removed 
from  our  schools,  nor  do  they  attempt  to 
propagate  any  of  their  peculiar  views  or 
vices.  They  are  simply  aggressive  in  the 
menial  employments  and  in  the  purchasing 
of  real  estate.  The  chief  iniquities  that  are 
charged  upon  the  Chinese  by  the  people  of 
California  and  Oregon  are,  that  they  have 


2O  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

come  to  us  in  greater  numbers  than  we  like  ; 
that  they  are  crowding  from  certain  locali 
ties  American  citizens  ;  that  they  have  re 
duced  the  price  of  labor  ;  that  they  are  sharp 
competitors  in  the  various  industrial  occupa 
tions  ;  and  that  they  ship  some. part  of  their 
earnings,  and,  at  last,  their  bones  to  their 
native  country.  Upon  repeated  inquiries 
on  the  route  from  San  Francisco  to  Port 
land,  Oregon,  these  were  the  principal 
charges  maintained  or  attempted  against 
this  people. 

We  are  free  to  admit  that  their  ways  may 
be  annoying.  That  they  enter  the  shop  and 
underbid  the  mechanic,  that  they  then  enter 
the  market  and  underbid  the  manufacturer 
and  jobber,  may  give  offence  to  both  capital 
and  labor.  But  we  are  to  bear  in  mind  that 
such  procedures  are  neither  treason  nor  any 
other  form  of  crime.  The  entire  case,  when 
reduced  to  its  simplest  terms,  on  the  ground 
of  political  economy,  is  merely  a  matter  of 
successful  competition  in  industrial  pursuits. 
Californians,  of  all  people  in  this  country, 
ought,  therefore,  to  know  better  than  to  at 
tempt  the  impeachment  of  these  industrious 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  21 

Mongolians  upon  the  ground  of  such  frivo 
lous  complaints. 

But  this  phase  of  the  subject  will  bear  still 
more  critical  examination.  It  is  admitted 
by  all  parties  that  no  people  on  this  conti 
nent  are  more  patient,  economical,  and  in 
dustrious  than  Chinamen.  Laded  with  their 
large  market-baskets  and  vegetables,  they 
may  be  seen  in  the  early  gray  of  morning, 
under  the  hot  sun  of  midday,  and  late  in 
the  evening,  trotting  through  the  streets  of 
towns  and  cities  with  the  quiet  and  humility 
of  pack-loaded  mules.  There  is  scarcely  a 
house  in  San  Francisco  or  Sacramento  which 
has  not  its  Chinaman  domestic.  They  do 
not,  however,  herd  themselves  exclusively 
in  cities,  though  this  is  the  tendency  of  all 
foreigners.  The  Chinaman  is  met  in  the 
more  quiet  rural  districts,  as  well  as  in 
crowded  city  marts ;  in  ravines,  in  swamps, 
and  on  mountain-sides,  from  the  coast  to  the 
summits  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, — where- 
ever  there  is  anything  for  him  to  do,  there 
he  is  found.  In  the  deserted  -placer  dig 
gings  of  Mariposa,  in  the  streams  flowing 
down  from  the  melting  snows  of  Mount 


22  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

Shasta,  in  the  sands  at  the  Dalles  on  the 
Columbia  River,  we  have  seen  these  China 
men  digging  for  gold,  at  a  season  when,  for 
lack  of  water  and  owing  to  excessive  heat, 
all  the  other  miners  were  seeking  rest  and 
shelter.  Among  diggings  worked  twice  or 
thrice  and  abandoned  by  white  men,  this 
olive-colored  face  is  now  finding  an  average 
of  between  two  and  three  dollars  per  day. 

In  several  sections  of  California  they  have 
taken  up  swamp  lands,  digging  in  water, 
through  mud  and  slime  where  no  white  man 
would  be  tempted  to  go,  and  by  ditching 
and  leveeing  have  made  those  lands  among 
the  most  productive  in  the  state.  At  first, 
they  reclaimed  swamps  on  shares,  but  of  late 
they  have  made  extensive  purchases ;  nor 
will  it  surprise  us  if  the  day  comes  when, 
by  labor  and  irrigation,  the  alkali  plains  of 
the  great  American  desert  along  the  lines  of 
the  Union  and  Central  Pacific  Railways  shall 
be  made,  under  the  thrift  and  skill  of  these 
Chinamen,  to  bud  and  blossom  as  a  garden. 

In  the  building  of  roads  in  difficult  and 
dangerous  places  they  have  been  found  will 
ing,  and  well-nigh  indispensable.  No  one 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  23 

can  tell  what  would  have  been  the  result  in 
the  building  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad 
but  for  Chinese  labor ;  and  now  some  of  the 
difficult  sections  of  that  road,  both  on  the 
Sierra  Nevadas  and  in  the  alkali  plains,  are 
under  the  care  of  Chinamen,  whose  faithful 
ness  to  their  employers  is  proverbial. 

In  Oregon  they  do  nearly  all  the  work  in 
the  salmon  fisheries,  which  constitute  one 
of  the  most  productive  industries  of  that 
state.  Three  thousand  Chinamen  are  em 
ployed  between  Portland  and  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia  River.  They  work  for  one 
dollar  per  day  and  board,  the  average  cost 
of  which  is  but  twenty  cents  per  day.  Their 
diet  is  for  the  most  part  the  simplest.  They 
less  frequently  cause  their  employers  trouble 
than  any  other  class  of  laborers.  There  are 
with  them  no  strikers  nor  demands  for  high 
er  wages  than  those  at  first  agreed  upon ; 
though  when  the  terms  of  a  given  contract 
are  complied  with,  they,  like  other  people, 
if  possible,  make  more  advantageous  terms. 
They  work  patiently,  expeditiously,  and 
skilfully  from  daylight  until  dark.  They 
accomplish  more  for  a  day's  work  than  either 


24  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

a  negro,  Irishman,  or  than  the  average 
American  laborer.  They  have  to  be  told  or 
shown  but  once,  and  the  details  in  almost 
any  employment  are  mastered.  They  are 
rarely  sick ;  and  when  sick,  use  chiefly  for 
remedies  salt  and  water.  No  class  of  peo 
ple  in  California  indulge  less  in  wine  and 
whiskey  than  Chinamen.  Not  one  of  the 
three  thousand  employed  in  the  Columbia 
fisheries  is  allowed  to  use  either  liquor  or 
opium  in  any  form  during  the  hours  of  work, 
nor  when  the  day's  work  is  done ;  if  an 
opium-user  is  found,  he  is  immediately  re- 
shipped  to  San  Francisco. 

Such  are  the  facts,  as  gleaned  during  sever 
al  days  spent  among  the  fisheries  of  the  lower 
Columbia,  and  during  a  week  or  more  passed 
overland  on  the  road  between  central  Cali 
fornia  and  northern  Oregon.  Now,  there 
fore,  the  true  state  of  the  case  appears  to  be 
this :  by  their  industry  and  economy,  by 
their  ability  to  master  the  details  of  any  oc 
cupation,  and  by  their  willingness  to  engage 
in  any  form  of  employment,  these  China 
men  have  succeeded ;  in  their  success  they 
have  reduced  the  price  of  labor.  But  can 


OP  THK 

UNIVERSITY 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  25 

this  be  looked  upon  as  a  just  ground  of  ob 
jection  against  any  class  of  immigrants? 
or  are  these  sufficient  reasons  why  foreign 
ers  should  be  forbidden  a  home  in  this 
country?  Greater  economy  in  living,  great 
er  industry  in  productive  employments,  and 
reduction  in  the  price  of  labor,  on  entirely 
different  grounds  from  those  existing  in  Cal 
ifornia,  are  already  necessitated  in  Europe 
and  in  our  eastern  states.  Do  the  Pacific 
states,  in  these  times,  reasonably  count  on 
exemption?  These  results  must  come  in 
some  way  ;  and  we  suspect  the  present  New 
England  method  is  no  easier  to  bear  than  is 
the  Californian  ;  and,  besides,  as  the  price 
of  day  labor  is  the  basis  of  all  values,  the 
laborer  gains  nothing  by  the  advance  of 
wages  beyond  a  given  figure,  and  in  the 
long  run  suffers  nothing  by  reduction  in  the 
price  of  labor. 

When  wages  decline,  after  undue  infla 
tion,  the  laborer  is  not  the  only  sufferer  ;  for 
when  he  is  unable  to  make  his  purchase, 
the  manufacturer  and  the  merchant  lose  not 
only  their  profits,  but,  as  at  the  present  time, 
their  entire  capital  also. 


26  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

The  way  from  hard  to  good  times  lies  in 
the  conversion  of  the  non-producers  of  soci 
ety  into  producers ;  in  this  matter  the  Chi 
nese  stand  less  in  the  way  of  general  pros 
perity  than  multitudes  whom  we  could 
mention. 

Let  the  indolent  crowds  who  throng  the 
streets  and  shops  of  Boston,  New  York,  and 
San  Francisco  scatter  over  our  unoccupied 
territories,  and  become  wheat  or  stock  rais 
ers,  and  good  times  will  knock  at  all  our 
doors. 

The  county  of  San  Bernardino,  Califor 
nia,  has  a  population  of  eleven  thousand, 
and  an  area  which  would  allow  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  one  thousand  acres  of 
land.  Here  is  ample  territory  for  the  idle, 
unskilled  laborers  of  San  Francisco.* 

*  Senator  Sargent,  in  his  recent  speech,  thus  alludes 
to  the  employment  of  Chinese  in  North  Adams,  in  this 
state  :  — 

"The  Chinaman  is  a  constant  threat  to  the  unskilled 
laborer,  and  is  gradually  becoming  a  threat  even  to  the 
skilled  laborer.  He  is  very  imitative,  and  soon  acquires 
sufficient  art  to  compete  with  the  best  workmen  and  to 
supplant  them.  The  operation  of  these  principles  has 
been  seen  on  a  limited  scale  in  Massachusetts.  The 
only  protest  thus  far  devised  by  labor  against  supposed 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  27 

Decided  service  would  be  rendered  Cali 
fornia  if  measures  could  be  adopted  to 

wrongs  by  capital — perhaps  not  a  wise  one  —  is  the 
*  strike,'  where  the  employes  combine  and  refuse  to 
work  except  on  conditions  proposed  by  themselves. 
Such  a  strike  occurred  at  North  Adams,  upon  which  a 
large  manufacturer  imported  enough  Chinamen  to 
carry  on  his  establishment,  refused  thereafter,  and  still 
refuses,  to  employ  white  men,  and  the  latter  were  com 
pelled  to  go  elsewhere  for  work.  The  effect  of  this 
movement  was  to  overawe  the  labor  leagues.  What 
had  been  done  in  one  case  could  be  done  in  many,  un 
til  there  would  be  no  employment  for  white  men  in 
Massachusetts." 

Now  the  truth  is  that  the  "  strike  "  was  scarcely  known 
in  New  England  until  the  majority  of  the  employes 
came  to  be  foreigners.  And  we  protest  against  the  in 
sinuation  that,  in  this  controversy  between  capital  and 
labor,  capital  is  altogether  in  the  wrong.  The  remarks 
of  Gladden  in  "  Working-People  and  their  Employers  " 
are  worthy  of  consideration. 

"I  have  known  cases  in  which  workmen  have  resist 
ed  a  reduction  of  wages  when  that  was  the  only  condi 
tion  on  which  the  business  could  be  carried  on  without 
disaster.  As  a  mere  matter  of  policy,  this  is  suicidal. 
For  workmen  tt>  exact  a  rate  of  pay  that  shall  destroy 
the  business  by  which  they  get  their  living,  is  simply 
to  kill  the  goose  that  lays  the  golden  egg  every  day,  be 
cause  she  does  not  lay  two  every  day.  .  .  .  Grave 
wrongs  are  often  in  this  way  inflicted  upon  employers; 
their  business  is  paralyzed,  their  credit  is  impaired, 
their  property  is  swept  away,  and,  in  the  destruction 
of  the  enterprises  which  they  are  carrying  on,  their 


28  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

thus  rid  her  cities  of  the  "  hoodlums "  in 
stead  of  the  Chinese.  Says  Mr.  Sargent : 
"  The  term  '  hoodlum  '  has  a  terrible  mean 
ing^  with  us  in  San  Francisco.  It  means 
the  wildest  kind  of  boys,  made  such  by  ab 
sence  of  employment,  as  testified  to  by  this 
policeman.  We  do  not  know  what  to  do 
with  them.  We  do  not  know  what  to  do 
with  our  own  boys,  and  cannot  control 
them.  They  get  vicious  from  the  mere  fact 
that  they  have  no  employment."  A  few 

power  to  help  and  serve  their  fellow-men  is  crip 
pled.  For  nothing  is  plainer  than  that  a  man  who 
organizes  and  carries  on  any  honest  business,  in  which 
he  gives  employment  and  fair  remuneration  to  laborers, 
ought  to  be  considered  a  public  benefactor.  .  .  .  This 
is  a  free  country.  You  have  a  right  to  refuse  to  work 
for  less  than  a  certain  rate,  and  you  have  a  right  to  in 
fluence  others  to  join  with  you  in  this  refusal ;  but  you 
have  no  right  to  use  force  or  intimidation  to  keep  any 
man  from  working  for  less.  Nobody  has  any  right  to 
force  you  to  work ;  you  have  no  right  to  compel  any 
body  to  be  idle  who  is  satisfied  with  less  wages  than 
you  demand.  He  may  be  a  poor  workman  ;  but  that  is 
his  employer's  concern,  not  yours.  If  you  can  persuade 
him  to  join  you,  very  good;  but  you  have  no  right  to 
lay  a  straw  in  his  way  if  he  refuses  to  join  you.  We 
believe  in  free  labor  in  this  country,  do  we  not?  And 
that  belief  implies  that  no  laborer  ought  to  be  enslaved 
or  coerced  by  his  employer  or  by  his  fellow-laborers." 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  2p 

such  like  confessions,  and  the  senator  will 
have  completely  strangled  his  pet  congres 
sional  measure. 

At  this  point  we  may  add,  that  one  of  the 
greatest  drawbacks  to  the  prosperity  of  Cal 
ifornia  the  senator  passes  in  silence :  it  is 
the  land  monopoly,  by  which  certain  per 
sons,  to  the  helpless  exclusion  of  all  poor 
men,  are  each  in  possession  of  agricultural 
territory  almost  sufficient  to  form  a  state. 

We  cannot  help  the  conviction,  therefore, 
that  our  California  friends  are  entirely 
wrong  in  their  views  as  to  the  causes  of 
their  present  prostration  and  demoralization, 
and  that  they  are  utterly  at  fault  while  in 
veighing  against  the  Chinese  people  on 
the  ground  of  political  economy.  The  only 
permanent  relief  for  California  is  to  be  found 
in  greater  industry,  in  less  drinking,  in  less 
stock  and  other  -forms  of  gambling,  and  in 
vital  competition  through  our  own  native 
American  superiority.  If  the  Chinaman 
can  teach  the  people  of  California,  and  for 
that  matter  the  whole  country,  that  we  must 
be  less  speculative  and  extravagant,  and 
more  industrious  and  provident,  he  will  be 
a  God-send  and  not  a  curse. 


3O  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

As  to  the  objection  that  the  Chinese  send 
their  wages  and  their  bones  back  to  China, 
only  a  word  need  be  said.  Any  man  ought 
to  have  the  right  to  say  what  disposition 
shall  be  made  of  his  bones,  provided  they 
are  not  left  where  they  will  be  nuisances  or 
frights.  We  must  not  forget  that  Joseph, 
when  he  died,  gave  commandment  to  the 
children  of  Israel  concerning  his  bones 
(Gen.  1.  25),  and  his  request  was  complied 
with  (Ex.  xiii.  19).  It  seems  laughable 
that  the  wealthy  state  of  California,  on  the 
ground  of  political  economy,  should  huck 
ster  for  the  bones  of  the  Chinaman,  espe 
cially  after  he  consents  to  have  the  flesh 
scraped  off  and  left  behind.  It  would  be 
wise  not  to  mention  this  Oriental  peculiarity, 
for  we  of  New  England  have  too  great  re 
spect  for  the  custom  of  the  patriarchs,  and 
also  are  not  sufficiently  economic,  even  in 
our  straitened  circumstances,  to  appreciate 
the  point  raised. 

The  additional  objection,  that  the  Chinese 
make  money  returns  to  their  native  country, 
seems,  at  first  thought,  to  have  greater 
weight ;  but,  politically,  any  man  who 
comes  to  this  country  has  that  right,  be  he 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  31 

Chinaman  or  Englishman.  Nor  is  this  all ; 
for  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  when  a 
Chinaman  works  from  daylight  until  dark, 
and  receives  one  dollar,  even  if  that  one 
dollar,  with  no  deductions, — which  is  not 
the  case,  —  goes  out  of  this  country,  there 
is  still  left,  for  the  one  dollar  sent,  an  equiv 
alent,  and  more  than  an  equivalent,  judging 
from  the  present  California  trouble  and  dis 
cussion. 

Indeed,  the  very  fact  that  a  Chinaman  is 
regarded  a  profitable  laborer,  also  the  fact 
that  he  is  complained  of  because  he  has 
reduced  the  price  of  labor,  and  that  he  ren 
ders  more  service  for  a  given  compensation 
than  other  employes,  are  overwhelming 
evidences  that  the  real  wealth  of  the  coun 
try  is  increased  by  his  presence.  No  one 
can  fail  to  see  that  the  construction  of  the 
Central  Pacific  Railway,  that  the  swamp 
lands  made  arable,  that  the  gold  dug, 
washed,  and  presented  at  the  United  States 
mint,  and  that  during  the  present  year  four 
hundred  thousand  cases  of  salmon,  forty- 
eight  pounds  to  the  case,  caught,  cut, 
canned,  cooked,  boxed,  and  shipped  by 
Chinamen,  besides  thousands  of  barrels 


32  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

salted,  —  are  standing  and  incontrovertible 
evidences  that  when  a  Chinaman  takes  one 
dollar  from  this  country,  he  leaves  two  or 
more  in  place  of  it. 

We  sincerely  believe  that  the  equivalents 
in  labor  received  for  the  money  sent  home 
by  Chinamen,  dollar  for  dollar,  add  more 
substantial  wealth  to  the  United  States,  ten 
fold  over,  than  the  money  we  send  to  any 
other  country  on  the  globe  for  merchandise 
received  in  exchange.  In  the  light  of  po 
litical  economy,  therefore,  but  one  answer 
is  returned,  —  an  answer  which  should  si 
lence  completely  this  piteous  wail  which 
comes  up  from  the  golden  state.  We  insist 
that  the  state  of  California  is  far  too  vig 
orous  and  enterprising,  rich  and  marvellous 
in  its  resources,  to  wince  in  these  times  of 
universal  depression.  Especially  should 
the  people  of  the  Pacific  slope  hesitate  in 
dealing  with  this  their  peculiar  problem,  to 
dim  the  lustre  of  our  universal  welcome  to 
the  peoples  of  the  earth  to  make  their  home 
with  us,  or  to  ask  us  to  deny  the  grand 
principles  upon  which  rest  all  our  theories 
of  national  resources,  and  of  true  political 
economy. 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  33 


III. 

THE  CHINESE  AND  EDUCATION. 

THE  face  of  a  Chinaman  is  matter-of-fact 
and  stolid.  There  is  no  flash  of  fancy  nor 
gleam  of  imagination.  But  there  is  intelli 
gence  ;  curiosity  and  ingenuity  are  seen  in 
every  feature.  They  are  slow  to  depart 
from  ancient  customs.  As  a  rule,  innova 
tions  are  met  by  constitutional  or  hereditary 
aversions.  But  it  is  found  that  whatever 
their  stolidness,  and  however  intense  their 
antipathies,  they  do  not  apply  to  our  Amer 
ican  educational  methods  and  measures.  It 
is  also  above  dispute  that  the  Chinese  are 
eminently  a  literary,  in  the  sense  of  being 
a  reading  people ;  their  system  of  making 
competitive  examinations  the  only  royal 
road  to  posts  of  honor  and  emolument,  and 
the  law  which  throws  these  open  to  every 
body  who  chooses  to  compete,  have  caused 
3 


34  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

a  wider  diffusion  of  book-information  among 
the  Chinese,  probably,  than  is  to  be  found 
among  any  other  people. 

But  what  applies  to  Chinamen  in  their 
native  country  applies  to  them  also  when 
they  make  America  their  home. 

To  put  this  statement  in  an  exact  form, 
we  unhesitatingly  state  that  no  one  can  be 
found  who  questions  the  ability  and  the  en 
thusiasm  of  the  Chinese  in  acquiring  the 
English  tongue,  and  especially  in  learning 
religious  hymns  and  songs.  The  Vallcjo 
Chronicle,  in  a  recent  article,  says  that  the 
Chinese  in  the  schools  of  that  place  mani 
fest  a  ^perfect  mania  in  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge. 

Owing  to  a  scarcity  of  funds,  Rev.  Mr. 
Pond  has  been  obliged  to  diminish  the  num 
ber  of  schools  in  certain  places,  but  says : 
"  I  do  not  have  very  good  success  in  trying 
to  cut  down  the  work.  Even  Antioch 
school  did  not  close  at  my  bidding,  but  re 
ported  itself  alive,  and  more  flourishing 
than  ever."  That  is,  so  eager  are  these 
people  in  their^  school  work,  that  even  with 
out  teachers  or  pecuniary  aid,  schools  once 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  35 

opened  are  not  suffered  to  be  closed,  but 
the  pupils  continue  the  organization  and 
their  studies  as  best  they  are  able. 

This  enthusiasm  is  far  .from  being  local 
or  sectional ;  it  is  national.  The  same  in 
tense  application  and  marked  success  are 
witnessed  in  San  Francisco,  Los  Angelos, 
San  Jose,  Stockton,  Sacramento,  and  in  the 
towns  and  cities  of  Oregon.  In  and  about 
San  Francisco  alone  there  are  twenty  flour 
ishing  schools  taught  in  the  English  tongue. 
During  the  month  of  November  last,  four 
hundred  and  eighty-three  Chinese  attended 
the  schools  under  the  exclusive  patronage 
of  the  American  Missionary  Society.  They 
showed  great  interest,  mastered  their  tasks 
easily,  and  were  unexceptionable  in  their 
deportment.  Of  the  Presbyterian  mission 
school  of  San  Francisco,  which  does  its 
teaching  in  the  Cantonese  dialect,  a  recent 
visitor  says :  "  The  house  was  densely 
packed.  I  should  say  there  were  eight 
hundred  Chinese,  mostly  young  men,  who 
invariably  expressed  interest  in  the  services, 
which  were  conducted  without  sensational 
effort  to  excite  wonder  at  the  cost  of  solem- 


36  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

nity.  Printed  hymns,  part  in  English  and 
part  in  Chinese,  hung  on  the  walls.  My 
eyes  beheld  with  astonishment  the  earnest 
ness  displayed  by  these  naturally  undemon 
strative  Chinese  as  they  applied  themselves 
to  their  books." 

An  American-Chinese  school-room  is  uni 
formly  found  to  be  a  veritable  hive  of  in 
dustry  and  activity.  The  rooms  we  visited 
in  August  last  were  comfortable,  but  far 
from  pretentious.  The  teacher  passed  bus 
ily  from  one  pupil  to  another,  giving  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes  to  each.  Often  voluntary 
assistance  is  rendered  by  Christian  gentle 
men  and  ladies.  Those  pupils  who  have 
made  considerable  progress,  especially  if 
converted,  are  at  length  placed  in  charge 
of  small  classes  of  beginners. 

The  method  of  instruction  is  almost  ex 
clusively  that  of  our  public  primary  schools, 
in  which  the  alphabet  of  the  written  lan 
guage  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  begin 
ner,  instead  of  teaching  him  to  translate 
from  one  language  to  another.  The  Chi 
nese  display  wonderful  aptitude  in  acquir 
ing  correct  pronunciation ;  and  it  is  gen- 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  37 

erally  understood  that  an  educated  China 
man,  owing  to  certain  similarities  of  Eng 
lish  and  Chinese  sounds,  will  pronounce 
English,  after  an  equal  amount  of  instruc 
tion,  more  perfectly  than  any  other  foreigner. 
The  home  methods  of  education  are  such 
that  those  who  have  been  in  the  schools  of 
China  become  easily  proficient  in  those 
English  studies  in  which  the  verbal  or 
technical  memory  is  called  into  special 
requisition.  Two  or  three  lessons  of  an 
Hour  each  are  ample  to  enable  such  scholars 
to  master  completely  the  "a,  b,  c's,"  and 
"a,  b,  abs." 

In  the  matter  of  singing,  it  is  worthy  of 
note  that  the  Chinese  learn  by  ear;  with, 
but  little  practice,  they  sing  the  more  com 
mon  tunes  and  words  with  commendable 
accuracy,  and  take  such  pleasure  in  the 
exercise,  that  the  denominational  schools 
which  have  the  more  singing  will  win  the 
larger  number  of  scholars.  While  not  much 
has  been  attempted  besides  teaching  them 
to  read  the  Bible  and  to  sing  religious 
songs,  though  limited  instruction  has  been 
given  in  geography  and  arithmetic,  still  the 


38  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

report  from  every  quarter  is  that  the  China 
men  are  thoroughly  awakened  by  what  they 
have  learned,  and  are  knocking  at  the  doors 
of  all  sorts  of  information.  As  Mr.  Pond 
has  recently  said,  "the  spirit  of  general 
inquiry  is  permeating  the  whole  Chinese 
population."  Such  are  the  facts  and  the 
basis  upon  which  those  interested  in  the 
education  of  the  Chinese  have  to  build. 

Now  it  must  follow  that  this  desire  to 
come  into  possession  of  knowledge  will  be 
come  more  and  more  intensified.  It  is  safe 
to  say  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when 
no  Chinaman  of  average  ability  will  be  long 
in  this  country  without  at  least  mastering 
the  rudiments  of  an  English  education ; 
others  will  enter  our  higher  schools  and 
universities.  Thus,  when  general  informa 
tion  is  added  to  their  native  intelligence  and 
instinctive  shrewdness,  they  certainly  will 
not  return  to  China  to  make  their  homes  in 
that  over-crowded  country  ;  rather  they  will 
return  to  America,  or  never  leave  it,  and 
will  make  here  their  homes  and  their  in 
vestments.  Precisely  as  the  Irish  masses, 
immigrating  to  this  country,  at  first  living 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  39 

in  squalor  beneath  that  in  which  the  average 
Chinaman  is  found,  have  passed  from  slab 
and  mud  huts  to  respectable  homesteads,  so 
the  Chinese,  as  they  the  better  comprehend 
their  advantages,  and  as  their  wealth  accu 
mulates,  will  abandon  their  crowded  city 
quarters  for  such  separate  and  comfortable 
homes  as  bespeak  industrious  and  .thrifty 
populations. 

Nor  is  this  all.  With  an  increase  of 
information,  and  with  their  desires  for 
wealth,  also  upon  grounds  of  personal  de 
fence  and  safety,  if  for  no  other  or  higher 
reasons,  they  will  ask  the  privileges  and 
rights  of  naturalization.  We,  therefore, 
predict,  in  view  of  all  these  considerations, 
also  upon  the  ground  of  their  instinctive 
patriotism  when  awakened,  that  the  day 
will  come  when  these  Mongolian  voters  will 
stand  among  the  stanchest  friends  of  our 
republican  institutions,  and  will  be  an  in 
valuable  corrective  at  the  polls  in  settling 
some  of  the  conflicting  and  impending 
issues  which  are  shortly  to  involve  the 
American  people. 

Therefore,  in  view  of  existing  facts  and 


40  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

manifest  probabilities,  namely,  the  probable, 
nay,  the  inevitable  enlightenment  of  the 
Chinese,  with  these  political  results  that  are 
sure  to  follow,  it  must  be  perfectly  apparent 
to  one  who  gives  the  matter  a  candid  hear 
ing,  that  in  their  civil  capacity  there  is  but 
one  course  for  the  Pacific  states  to  adopt  in 
the  settlement  of  this  problem :  it  is  not  to 
close  their  doors  against  the  Chinaman,  for 
that  is  manifestly  impolitic  and  in  violation 
of  a  solemn  compact ;  it  is  not  to  lay  upon 
them  the  burdens  of  excessive  and  discrimi 
nating  taxation  as  has  been  proposed,  for 
that  is  unjust  and  a  violation  of  our  Consti 
tution  ;  it  is  neither  to  burn,  nor  in  any  way 
to  damage  the  buildings  in  which  their 
schools  are  taught,  as  in  some  instances  has 
been  the  case,  for  that  is  a  blind  and  reckless 
lawlessness  which  every  respectable  citizen 
must  condemn  ;  not  in  any  of  these  ways  ;  — 
but  those  states  must  rid  themselves  of  these 
heathen,  and,  in  fact,  of  all  ignorant  and 
illiterate  foreigners,  by  infusing  them  with 
intelligence,  and  this  is  to  be  done  by  insti 
tuting  the  most  vigorous  and  generous  edu 
cational  measures  and  provisions  possible* 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  4! 

It  will  make  no  difference  what  other  meth 
ods  are  attempted  or  adopted ;  it  makes  no 
difference  how  many  remonstrances  are 
sent  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  coast ; 
it  makes  no  difference  how  many  public 
meetings  are  held,  nor  how  many  "  anti- 
Cooly  secret  societies  "  are  organized,  nor 
howsoever  savage  their  threats,  nor  barbar 
ous  or  brutal  their  abuses,  nothing  else  will 
succeed  permanently  except  the  lifting  of 
these  Chinese  emigrants  on  to  the  plane  of 
an  intelligent  and  thoroughly  enlightened 
American  citizenship, 


42  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 


IV. 

THE  CHINESE  AND  MORALS. 

THE  positions  taken  in  the  United  States 
Senate  are  not  those  in  every  instance 
ordinarily  occupied  by  the  enemies  of  Chi 
nese  immigration;  for  instance,  the  moral 
aspects  are  not  so  often  set  forth  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  but  are  at  the  present  time  of 
sufficient  importance,  judging  from  the 
turn  the  debate  has  taken  to  demand  atten 
tion.  The  argument  is,  that  the  Chinese 
are  debasingly  filthy  and  corrupt,  grossly 
demoralized  and  demoralizing,  and  should 
therefore  be  prevented  from  coming  to  this 
country. 

The  subject  of  cleanliness  belongs  more 
properly  under  the  head  of  sanitary  meas 
ures  rather  than  within  the  realm  of  morals  ; 
but,  in  order  to  avoid  the  multiplication  of 
topics,  and  as  cleanliness,  in  the  minds  of 


THE   CHINESE   PROBLEM.  43 

many  people,  is  a  kind  of  morality,  and  is 
said  to  be  next  to  godliness,  we  are  led  to 
consider  in  this  connection  the  charge  of 
uncleanliness  made  against  the  Chinese. 

We  admit,  for  argument's  sake,  that  the 
filth  and  squalor  of  these  people  is  tenfold 
greater  than  is  represented.  But  what  of 
it?  It  must  be  clear  to  every  one,  that 
while  such  conditions  may  make  such  peo 
ple  exceedingly  disagreeable  neighbors, 
they  are  not  thereby  deprived  of  the  rights 
of  citizenship.  These  matters  doubtless 
require  attention,  but  not  the  attention  of 
the  national  government.  It  is  clearly  the 
duty  of  every  city,  or  of  every  state,  to 
employ  health  commissioners ;  it  is  mani 
festly  their  duty  to  enforce  sanitary  measures 
for  protection  against  disease  and  epidemic. 
But  evidently  these  are  municipal  rather 
than  congressional  matters.  If,  therefore, 
what  is  said  respecting  the  filth  of  the  Chi 
nese  is  true,  California  and  San  Francisco 
ought  first  of  all  to  be  self-condemned  that 
they  have  recklessly  allowed  the  health  and 
lives  of  their  people  to  be  thus  imperilled ; 
still  more  ought  they  to  blush  that  they  have 


44  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

permitted  or  encouraged  their  represen 
tative  to  parade  these  facts  in  the  national 
senate.  While  it  is  true  that  the  popular 
and  Christian  sentiments  of  this  country 
will  not  justify  the  abuses  which  have  been 
lately  heaped  upon  Chinamen  in  San  Fran 
cisco,  they  will  justify  even  extreme  sani 
tary  measures  whenever  enforced  in  the 
Chinese,  as  well  as  in  every  other  quarter 
of  the  city. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  these  charges 
which  have  been  made  require  not  a  little 
qualification.  "Dickens's  genius  described 
very  graphically,"  says  Mr.  Sargent,  w  a 
scene  of  squalor  in  Tom  All-alone's  Alley 
in  London.  Even  his  pen  would  fail  to  do 
justice  to  the  Chinese  alleys  in  San  Fran 
cisco,  where  these  people  are  packed  into 
rooms  and  improvised  hovels  reeking  with 
the  slime  of  nastiness,  breathing  a  tainted 
atmosphere,  —  their  clothing  infected  with 
unwholesome  odors  and  the  germs  of  disease 
and  death.  It  is  almost  a  miracle  that  a 
pestilence  has  not  ere  this  raged  in  the  city." 
This  closing  sentence  is  a  remarkable  ad 
mission  if  Chinamen  are  the  filthiest  people 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  45 

in  Christendom.  Such  statements  and  other 
considerations  lead  us  to  say,  that  Mr.  Sar 
gent  in  his  zeal  has  extravagantly  exagger 
ated  the  facts  he  represents. 

After  having  explored,  midday  and  mid 
night,  under  the  protection  and  guidance  of 
experienced  policemen,  every  place  spoken 
of  in  Mr.  Sargent's  appeal, — the  under 
ground  opium  and  gambling  dens,  and  other 
dens ;  the  narrow  passages  and  the  rickety 
stairways  ;  the  "joss  houses"  and  the  " chop 
houses,"  —  we  unhesitatingly  affirm  that  they 
are  not  so  unexceptionably  slimy  and  filthy 
as  represented.  The  odor  of  burning  opium 
is  unpleasant ;  the  air  of  closed  apartments  is 
likewise  disagreeable ;  but  has  Mr.  Sargent 
forgotten  the  smoking-car  of  the  eastern  states 
whose  atmosphere  is  dense  with  tobacco 
fumes,  and  whose  floor  is  intolerable  to  every 
one  save  a  tobacco  user?  The  fact  is  also, 
that  the  stench  of  some  of  our  foreign  quar 
ters  in  eastern  cities,  and  the  offensive  im 
purity  of  some  of  our  crowded  and  unventi- 
lated  halls  and  churches,  will  not  fall  far 
below  the  average  of  the  corresponding 
places  found  in  the  Chinese  quarters  of  San 


46  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

Francisco.  The  important  admission  that 
the  average  health  of  Chinamen  on  the  Pa 
cific  coast  is  higher  than  that  of  any  other 
class,  affords  grounds  for  an  inference ;  as 
also  does  the  fact  that  during  the  prevalence 
of  small-pox  and  other  epidemics  in  certain 
parts  of  San  Francisco,  the  Chinese  quar 
ters  have,  in  some  instances,  been  entirely 
exempt.  It  is  not  that  a  miracle  has  been 
wrought,  as  Mr.  Sargent  suggests,  but  be 
cause  much  of  the  dirt  spoken  of  has  no 
actual  existence,  but  is  the  invention  of  prej 
udiced  politicians,  and  of  persons  having 
violent  national  animosities. 

We  venture  a  step  further,  and  say  that 
if  there  is  anything  as  to  her  people  which 
arrests  the  attention  of  strangers  visiting 
San  Francisco,  it  is  the  almost  unexcep- 
tionably  neat  and  cleanly  appearance  of  the 
Chinese  met  upon  the  streets ;  the  face 
smooth  shaven,  the  hair  never  dishevelled, 
the  frock  smooth  as  if  just  from  under  the 
iron,  and  the  unsoiled  white  stockings,  is 
the  picture  of  the  Chinaman,  nine  cases  in 
ten,  which  the  visitor  encounters  in  his 
strolls  about  town.  If  one  would  see  per- 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  47 

sonal  degradation  in  these  respects,  let  him 
go,  not  among  the  Chinese,  but  among  the 
"  hoodlums."  Persons  who  have  travelled 
extensively  in  China,  likewise  those  who 
for  a  long  time  have  been  acquainted  with 
the  Chinese  on  the  Pacific  coast,  speak 
unqualifiedly  as  to  their  general  sanitary 
habits.  In  the  matter  of-  bathing,  we  were 
repeatedly  told  that  none,  as  a  class,  are 
more  frequent  and  systematic. 

The  conclusions  as  to  this  subject  are 
therefore  very  brief:  First,  the  Chinese  are 
not  the  filthy  people  represented  ;  second, 
if  they  were,  and  if  they  were  tenfold  more 
so  than  is  represented,  that  would  be  none 
of  the  general  government's  business,  nor 
any  ground  whatever  for  either  interdicting 
or  ostracizing  'them.  To  exclude  a  man 
from  American  soil  because  his  face  and 
hands  need  washing  is,  to  say  the  least, 
carrying  our  national  fastidiousness  to  ex 
treme  limits. 

Passing  more  directly  to  the  question  of 
Chinese  immorality,  we  have  to  confess  that 
we  are  not  prepared  to  deny  manv  charges 
made  against  them.  In  the 


OF  TMB 

UNIVERSITY 


48  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

referred  to  we  are  told  of  certain  Chinese 
practices  in  their  native  country,  and  of  the 
rigorousness  of  their  home  laws.  There 
are  given  us  quotations  from  Wermuth, 
L'Abbd,  Huck,  Berncastle,  and  Barrow, 
showing  the  extreme  cruelty  of  the  Chinese 
modes  of  punishment,  which  a,re  said  to  be 
so  unmerciful  "  that  the  knife  severing  the 
head  is  waited  for  with- anxiety."  But  we 
are  compelled  to  ask  again,  What  of  all 
this?  Granting  everything  said  to  be  true, 
we  have  to  reply,  that  no  issue  is  brought 
thereby  before  the  American  people.  Nay, 
we  say  more :  it  is  possible  that  we  can 
learn  a  profitable  lesson  from  the  stern  ex 
ecution  of  law  in  China.  If  the  Chinese 
were  as  lax  in  the  matter  of  inflicting  pen 
alties  as  we  have  been  in  America,  China 
would  be  a  universal  slaughter-house. 
Whereas  the  facts  are,  that,  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  people,  there  are  fewer 
civil  crimes  in  Canton  than  in  San  Fran 
cisco  —  in  China  than  in  California.  But, 
aside  from  this,  though  their  methods  of 
punishment  are  far  more  abusive  than  they 
need  be ;  though  worse  than  those  of  any 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  49 

other  nation  now  existing,  which  is  not  the 
case ;  though  more  cruel  than  those  of  any 
historic  nation,  which  also  is  not  the  fact,  — 
we  say,  though  all  these  charges  are  true, 
still  they  have  no  bearing  whatever  upon 
the  question  of  Chinese  immigration ;  other 
than  this,  that  if  their  home  government  is 
thus  cruel  and  brutal  towards  its  subjects, 
we  as  Americans  ought,  in  the  name  of  hu 
manity,  to  give  those  poor  creatures  a  home 
and  protection.  Our  Lord  tells  us  of  a 
traveller  who  was  struck  down  and  robbed, 
and  left  half  dead.  He  tells  us  without 
comment,  but  with  terrible  significance,  of 
a  priest  and  Levite  who  passed  by  neglect 
ing  the  abused  and  wounded  sufferer.  The 
senator  from  California  would  better  urge  his 
people  not  to  fall  under  like  condemnation, 
but  rather  persuade  them  to  embody  the  spirit 
of  the  good  Samaritan,  if  they  would  gain 
the  commendation  and  praise  of  all  ages. 

There  is  another  fact  which  is  employed 
to  prejudice  our  government  against  the 
Chinese,  but  the  use  of  which,  as  it  seems  to 
us,  only  betrays  the  weakness  of  the  case 
seeking  defence.  We  refer  to  the  horrors 

4 


50  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

of  coolie  traffic.     The  account,  as  given  in 
Mr.  Sargent's  speech,  is  the  following  :  — 

"The  cooly  (all  laborers  are  called  coolies)  goes  to 
the  rulers  or  elders  of  his  town  or  village,  and,  with  the 
consent  of  those  interested,  gives  security  on  the  per 
sons  of  his  family  for  such  a  sum  as  will  secure  his 
passage  to  the  United  States.  The  elders  go  to  the 
mandarin,  and  give  him  their  united  bond  for  the 
amount.  The  mandarin,  in  turn,  gives  his  note  to  the 
ticket-brokers,  who  furnish  the  cooly  with  his  ticket. 
The  bond,  by  which  all  the  persons  are  bound,  given 
to  secure  the  cooly's  note  held  by  the  brokers,  stipu 
lates  that  in  case  the  cooly  fails  to  pay  the  sum  charged 
for  his  ticket,  including  the  fees  of  brokers,  mandarin, 
and  elders,  within  the  specified  time,  then  the  indorsers 
will  pay  the  same  without  question.  The  sum  charged 
to  the  cooly  for  the  ticket,  which  costs  the  brokers  but 
forty  dollars,  is  often  as  high  as  three  or  four  hundred 
dollars.  In  five  instances  out  of  ten  he  will  fail  to 
meet  his  obligation.  If  he  fails  to  pay,  the  brokers 
here  demand  payment  of  the1  mandarin  at  once.  The 
mandarin  pays  the  note,  charging  a  heavy  fee  for  so 
doing.  The  elders  pay  the  mandarin,  charge  another 
fee,  and  demand  the  amount  from  the  cooly's  family. 
They  being  unable  to  pay,  are  sold  off,  one  after  an 
other,  beginning  with  the  youngest  girl,  until  enough  is 
realized  to  cancel  the  debt.  In  this  way,  whole  fami 
lies  are  often  reduced  to  slavery  to  pay  for  a  forty-dol 
lar  ticket. 

"  Two  families  were  sold  here  in  Canton  last  week 
to  satisfy  such  a  debt.  One  of  the  notes  was  for  three 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  51 

hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  Two  unmarried  girls,  each 
thirteen  years  old,  were  purchased  by  an  Italian  profli 
gate  at  seventy-five  dollars  apiece.  One  boy  was  sold 
for  fifty  dollars.  Six  persons,  in  all,  were  sold,  before 
the  requisite  amount  was  raised.  Girls,  however,  often 
bring  higher  prices,'and  sometimes  the  sale  of  a  hand 
some  daughter  will  be  sufficient.  It  is  not  unfrequent 
for  different  members  of  a  family  to  urge  that  they  may 
be  sold,  instead  of  some  loved  one  that  is  offered.  The 
heads  of  families  sell  themselves  into  servitude  to  save 
their  families.  It  has  sometimes  happened  that  after 
the  sale  of  a  family,  the  cooly  returning  finds  a  por 
tion  of  the  claim  still  unsatisfied,  and  he  himself  is 
sold  for  it." 

Now,  the  barbarism  of  these  transactions 
is  not  a  subject  of  debate.  Let  Californians 
use  the  strongest  condemnatory  terms  possi 
ble,  and  we  will  add  one  still  stronger,  if  the 
English  tongue  commands  it.  But  the  fact 
is,  that  all  these  matters  are  side  issues,  and 
are  utterly  irrelevant.  That  the  privileges 
growing  out  of  a  treaty  between  two  great 
nations  may  be  abused  by  certain  individ 
uals  is  doubtless  true ;  that  such  individual 
abuse  of  privilege  is  a  reason  why  the  gov 
ernment  should  immediately  seek  to  correct 
an  abuse  which  has  not  yet,  in  the  case  be 
fore  us,  been  attempted,  is  also  true;  but 


52  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

that  such  wrongs  are  a  proper  reason  for 
abrogating  a  treaty  until  all  other  efforts 
have  been  tried,  is  manifestly  absurd. 

But  aside  from  this,  a  nice  sense  of  pro 
priety  would  lead  us  to  use  somewhat  tem 
pered  speech,  when  charging  these  crimes 
upon  Chinamen,  inasmuch  as  our  own  skirts 
are  not  perfectly  clean.  We  have  not  to 
go  back  far  in  the  ages  to  find  that  the  bru 
tal  horrors  of  American  slavery  in  some 
instances  could  not,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
be  more  than  equalled  in  the  cooly  traffic 
of  China,  or  of  any  other  part  of  the  world. 
And  the  senator  from  California  knows 
there  are  those  sitting  upon  the  floor  with 
him  who  are  thirsting  to  have  those  days 
and  scenes  of  barbarism  reinaugurated. 
Our  Lord  commands  first  to  cast  out  the 
beams,  then  can  we  the  better  see  how  to 
aid  these  heathen  slaves. 

Chinese  prostitution  is  likewise  a  subject 
much  insisted  on  by  opponents  of  Chinese 
immigration.  The  story  is  no  doubt  a  sad 
and  revolting  one.  American  boys  are  said 
to  enter  Chinese  brothels  and  come  out  dis 
eased —  boys  from  eight  to  ten  years  of 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  53 

age,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Dr. 
Toland  before  the  commission.  But  then 
the  effect  is  found  to  be  precisely  the  same 
in  Boston  and  New  York,  where  the  houses 
of  ill  repute  are  not  Chinese,  but  American. 
Were  it  worth  our  while,  we  could  give 
facts  respecting  our  cities  of  the  North  and 
of  the  South,  which  would  lead  the  Cali 
fornia  senator  to  parade  this  consideration 
far  less  prominently.  The  remedy  there, 
as  well  as  here,  is  not  the  prohibition  of  for 
eign  immigration,  but  rather  for  boys  to  be 
taught,  by  precept  and  example,  to  give 
distance  to  such  places,  and  also  for  munici 
pal  authorities  to  instantly  close  every  dis 
reputable  house  within  their  jurisdiction. 

We  shall  be  pardoned  for  adding  that  if 
what  we  have  heard  is  true,  the  enforce 
ment  of  such  measures  in  San  Francisco 
would  extend  considerably  beyond  the  limits 
of  China-town. 

The  final  charge  of  this  class  is,  that  the 
Chinese  are  "  dangerous  infractors  of  the 
peace,  and  violators  of  the  law."  Says  Mr. 
Sargent :  "  I  have  seen  a  hundred  or  two 
Chinese  lining  each  side  of  a  narrow  street 


54  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

violently  gesticulating  at  each  other,  and 
apparently  casting  insults,  as  if  each  party 
sought  to  provoke  the  other  to  the  first  blow, 
when  like  a  flash  came  the  clashing  of 
swords  and  knives,  and  half  a  dozen  men 
were  in  the  dust  with  mortal  stabs.  These 
feuds  among  the  Chinese  are  frequent  and 
notorious."  That  these  cases  occur  some 
times ',  no  one  denies  ;  but  that  Chinamen  are 
thereby  proved  to  be  unexceptionable  "  vio 
lators  of  law,"  is  not  a  correct  nor  fair  rep 
resentation.  They  have  feuds  ;  what  people 
do  not?  Words,  gestures,  blows,  deadly 
weapons,  more  than  once  have  been  used  in 
New  England  at  political  elections,  and 
blood  has  been  shed.  That  the  Chinese 
are  worse  than  all  other  people  in  this  re 
spect,  we  deny ;  but  that  they  are  not  so 
bad  as  some  other  people,  we  assert.  In  a 
recent  conversation  with  a  returned  mission 
ary,  who  has  spent  most  of  his  time  in 
China  since  1862,  we  were  told  that  riots 
are  rare,  and  that  most  encounters  between 
parties  at  variance  go  no  further  than  words 
and  gestures ;  wordy,  but  bloodless,  is  a 
correct  representation  of  their  conflicts. 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  55 

Such  are  the  facts.  But  for  the  moment, 
allowing  that  all  this  published  irregularity, 
and  much  worse,  stands  charged  upon  the 
Chinese,  we  still  have  to  insist  that  the  uses 
to  which  such  statements  are  put  by  the  op 
ponents  of  Chinese  immigration  are  utterly 
fallacious.  The  reasoning  proves  altogether 
too  much.  For  instance,  Irish  Catholics 
and  Irish  Orangemen  cherish  towards  one 
another  hostile  feuds ;  they  have  met  in 
deadly  encounter ;  therefore  the  general 
government  should  interfere,  and  immigra 
tion  from  Ireland  henceforth  should  cease.* 
These  feuds  and  all  others,  those  between 
the  whites  and  blacks  of  the  Southern  states, 
the  great  feud  between  North  and  South, 
whose  magnitude  made  it  rebellion  and  war, 
spring  from  the  same  source  as  the  feuds 
between  Chinamen,  and  are  to  be  managed 
in  precisely  the  same  way ;  they  spring, 

*  There  are  other  cases  of  lawlessness  mentioned  by 
Mr.  Sargent,  which  involve  no  new  principle.  He  may 
multiply  such  instances,  and  we  will  match  them  all  by 
the  attitude  and  conduct  of  the  Molly  Maguires,  who 
take  upon  themselves  oaths  binding  them  to  murder 
any  person  who  is  obnoxious  to  them  or  to  their  organ 
ization,  or  by  the  Ku  Klux,  whose  defiance  almost  needs 
national  correction  on  the  scaffold. 


56  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

usually,  from  an  unsanctified  and  selfish  hu 
man  nature  ;  and  when  the  peace  of  a  given 
state  is  disturbed  thereby,  there  should  be 
the  exercise  of  state  authority  ;  and  when  the 
safety  of  the  general  government  is  imper 
illed,  then  the  nation  is  to  interfere  and 
subdue  the  lawless.  But  to  return  to  the 
definite  thought  before  us. 

We  speak  in  all  kindness,  but  we  can 
hardly  expect  that  the  Chinese  will  be  free 
from  intemperance,  licentiousness,  and  all 
forms  of  corruption,  when  such  vices  and 
crimes  are  popularized  by  those  regarded 
as  respectable.  If  the  state  of  California 
does  not  improve  the  morals  and  religion  of 
its  native  citizens,  it  can  hardly  expect  its 
foreign  populations  to  be  very  high-toned. 
If  these  Chinamen,  for  instance,  meet  noth 
ing  but  sharp  practice,  they  cannot  be  ex 
pected  to  learn  anything  higher ;  especially 
since,  in  these  matters,  they  seem  able  al 
ready  to  match  most  men  with  whom  they 
deal. 

On  these  grounds,  we  cannot  feel  other 
wise  than  that  it  is  unfortunate  for  the  Chi 
nese  that  California  seems  destined  to  be 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  57 

their  American  centre.  We  shall  be  glad 
to  be  corrected,  if  overstating  the  case,  when 
saying  that  there  is  probably  no  other  city 
in  the  Union  where  known  immorality  and 
impurity  go  unrebuked  as  in  San  Fran 
cisco.  Though  the  politician  is  known  to 
practise  the  gravest  forms  of  domestic  infi 
delities,  he  is  none  the  less  eligible  to  office. 
The  present  state  government  is  irreligious 
to  an  extent  that  must  be  astounding  to  all 
Christian  people.  The  governor,  in  his 
Thanksgiving  proclamation,  could  not  have 
ignored  the  name  of  God  more  completely 
had  he  been  an  avowed  atheist.  The  state 
senate  not  only  refused  to  elect  a  chaplain, 
but  sent  a  committee  of  senators  to  San 
Francisco  to  spend  the  Lord's  day  in  inves 
tigating  the  tide  and  salt-marsh  land  grants  ; 
the  committee  held,  during  the  day,  an  open 
session  at  the  City  Hall  for  the  purpose  of 
hearing  claims  and  complaints.  Such  defi 
ance  to  the  moral  and  religious  sentiments 
of  the  rest  of  the  country  is  more  dangerous 
to  the  public  weal  than  would  be  the  arrival 
of  a  hundred  thousand  additional  Chinamen. 


58  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 


V. 


THE  CHINESE  AND  THEIR  CONVERSION 
TO  CHRISTIANITY. 

JUDGING  from  the  present  bitter  complaints 
against  the  Chinaman,  it  would  seem  that 
our  friends  of  the  Pacific  States  are  able  to 
see  under  that  "rat-and-tan  complexion" 
merely  an  animal  of  "  sly  "  and  "  peculiar 
ways."  The  estimates  thus  far  made  by 
those  offering  complaints  appear  something 
like  the  following :  —  There  are  already 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  of 
these  debased  heathen  Chinese  on  the  Pacific 
coast ;  there  are  one  thousand  five  hundred 
additional  arrivals  monthly ;  and  these  are 
only  the  vanguard  of  an  army  whose  reserves 
amount  to  nearly  five  hundred  millions. 
We  confess  that  upon  grounds  purely  pru 
dential  and  political,  these  figures  are  at 
first  sight  somewhat  appalling.  There  is, 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  59 

by  way  of  relief,  however,  the  working  of 
the  great  law  of  demand  and  supply,  though 
there  may  be  some  local  crowding  before 
the  day  of  perfect  adjustment  and  equilibri 
um  shall  come. 

We  likewise  admit,  looking  upon  the 
condition  of  the  Chinese  at  their  arrival, 
unimproved  by  our  civilization,  education, 
and  Christianity,  that  they  are  far  from 
being  the  most  desirable  companions.  As 
they  touch  these  shores  they  are,  as  a  race, 
cool  and  cynical,  corrupt  and  corrupting 
heathen.  More  than  once  we  have  started 
back  from  that  sort  of  deceptive  physiog 
nomy  whose  smile,  with  its  set  teeth  and 
parted  lips,  seemed  to  go  through  us  like  a 
blade  of  steel. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  led  to 
reason  thus  :  if  they  are  human  beings,  they 
can  be  Christianized ;  and  when  they  are 
Christianized,  they  will  become  valuable  and 
desirable  citizens  in  any  State  or  country. 
Hence  the  most  vital  thought  connected  with 
this  Chinese  question  is  the  one  which 
relates  to  their  conversion  to  the  Protestant 
Christian  faith.  This,  indeed,  is  a  matter 


6O  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

of  paramount  importance,  not  only  to  Cali 
fornia,  but  equally  to  every  State  in  the 
Union ;  not  only  with  reference  to  China 
men,  but  equally  is  it  true  of  all  other 
nationalities.  There  are,  for  instance,  fewer 
Chinamen  in  California  than  there  are  Irish 
men  in  either  Massachusetts,  New  York,  or 
Pennsylvania.  An  Irish  Catholic,  who  is 
pledged  to  his  faith  as  he  appears  to  us, 
is  a  more  dangerous  foe  to  Republicanism 
than  is  a  Chinese  heathen ;  his  loyalty  is 
ecclesiastical  rather  than  civil.  A  temperate 
and  industrious  Mongolian  is  scarcely  more 
objectionable  to  a  New  Englander  than  is  an 
atheistic,  intemperate,  and  Sabbath-breaking 
German.  Now,  can  we  successfully  and 
correctly  develop  these  and  other  immigrants 
intellectually,  morally,  and  religiously?  If 
so,  all  minor  considerations  and  difficulties 
vanish.  As  this  question  presents  itself  to 
the  case  in  hand,  we  are  at  once  met  by  a 
previous  inquiry,  What  (has  as  yet  been 
accomplished?  We  reply,  that  if  great 
multitudes  have  not  been  converted  since 
missionary  work  commenced  among  the 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  6l 

Chinamen  of  San  Francisco,  it  should  be 
neither  surprising  nor  discouraging. 

While  making  these  investigations  we  are 
not  to  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  ages  of 
heathenism  stand  between  this  people  and 
their  conversion  to  Christianity.  If  we  are 
correct  in  our  information,  the  first  English 
missionary  to  China  labored  fourteen  years 
before  he  could  confidently  say  he  had 
gained  a  single  convert.  In  every  great 
enterprise  there  are  preliminary  efforts 
which  are  apparently  fruitless,  but  which 
are  none  the  less  needful.  God  himself 
hurries  not,  and  was  ages  in  fitting  the 
earth  for  human  abode.  Hence,  when  told 
that  efforts  to  Christianize  the  Chinese  have 
not  been  very  successful,  we  reply,  Yes. 
When  told  that  Chinese  are  superstitious 
idolaters,  we  also  reply,  Yes  ;  but  add,  So 
were  our  own  ancestors.  The  Romans, 
with  far  better  reason  for  it,  looked  upon 
Britons  with  something  of  the  contempt  and 
aversion  felt  by  some  of  our  people  towards 
the  Chinese  ;  nevertheless,  in  the  processes 
of  history,  and  perhaps  under  a  subtle  law 


62  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

of  nations,  the  Roman  is  not,  and  the  Eng 
lishman  is. 

We  are  also  aware  that  the  State  Commis 
sioners  of  California  have  made  decidedly 
unfavorable  reports ;  but  we  have  grounds 
for  the  statement  that  the  most  we  have 
thus  far  heard  is  ex  -partc.  Says  Rev.  Mr. 
Pond,  in  a  recent  note  to  his  friends  east :  — 
"  A  committee  of  the  senate  of  this  State  is 
just  now  engaged  in  taking  testimony  in 
this  city  in  relation  to  the  Chinese  question. 
They  seem  to  regard  it  as  within  their 
province  to  inquire  into  the  results  of  mis 
sionary  labor.  And  so,  when  they  have 
the  right  sort  of  witness  on  the  stand,  —  a 
sea-captain,  perhaps,  who  boasts  of  admin 
istering  discipline  among  his  Chinese  pas 
sengers  with  red-hot  pokers  ;  or  a  police 
man  who,  for  a  consideration,  has  known 
how  to  shut  his  eyes  or  to  be  somewhere 
else  when  Chinese  gambling  and  prostitu 
tion  came  too  clearly  into  view  upon  his 
beat ;  or  the  heathen  presidents  of  the  '  Six 
'Companies'  (Chinese),  or  others  like- 
minded,  —  then  they  inquire  if  there  are  any 
Christian  Chinese,  and  if  so,  what  sort  of 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  63 

men  they  are,  and  whether  missionary  labor 
amounts  to  anything  or  not.  And  by-and- 
by  you  will  have  an  elaborate  report,  prov 
ing  that  the  Chinese  cannot  be  elevated  by 
missionary  effort,  and  that  immigration  is 
attended  with  no  hope  of  benefit  even  to 
the  Chinese  themselves." 

We  should  likewise  bear  in  mind,  while 
prosecuting  these  inquiries,  that  many  need 
less  obstacles  have  been  thrown  in  the  way 
of  rendering  the  highest  moral  and  Chris 
tian  service  to  the  Chinese.  Aside  from 
pernicious  examples,  they  have  received 
treatment  such  as  can  give  them  but  slight 
respect  for  a  people  professedly  Christian. 
The  reports  that  come  to  us  from  reliable 
sources  are  such,  as  has  been  recently  said, 
"  as  would  make  Americans  blush  for  shame 
if  the  long  training  under  the  caste-hate 
engendered  by  slavery  had  not  rendered  the 
mass  of  the  white  people  indifferent  to  such 
outrages  when  practised  upon  despised 
races." 

We  are  informed  by  the  superintendent 
already  quoted,  that  "  the  tempest  of  abuse," 
very  little  of  which  is  reported  in  the 


64  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

secular  press,  and  none  of  it  by  politicians, 
is  such  as  to  greatly  diminish  for  the  past 
month  school  attendance.  "  Our  pupils," 
says  Mr.  Pond,  "  have  been  stoned  and 
struck  and  kicked  as  they  have  returned 
from  school.  Their  hats  have  been  snatched 
from  their  heads,  and  some  of  our  hoodlum 
crews  exhibit  their  trophies  of  stolen  Chi 
nese  hats  much  as  the  Sioux  or  the  Pawnees 
do  the  scalps  of  their  foes.  Connected  with 
the  Methodist  mission  are  about  twenty  Chi 
nese  girls,  who  have  been  rescued  from  the 
prostitution  to  which  they  had  been  doomed, 
and  are  taught  to  read  and  to  work,  and 
in  about  every  case  have  been  brought  to 
believe  in  Jesus.  Under  the  protection  of 
American  ladies  they  went  out,  one  after 
noon,  to  walk.  When  at  some  distance 
from  home,  they  were  set  upon  by  a  gang 
of  men  and  boys,  pelted,  and  then  struck, 
their  clothes  rent,  their  ear-rings  torn  from 
their  ears  ;  and  when  an  Irish  woman  (God 
bless  her  !)  gave  them  refuge,  her  house  was 
stoned.  It  is  no  pleasant  thing  to  record 
such  facts,  to  the  reproach  of  a  city  where 
one  has  made  his  home.  But  it  is  fair 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  65 

that  you,  and  our  other  friends  in  the  East, 
should  know  our  difficulties,  and  should 
judge  our  work  accordingly."  * 

Nor  is  this  all.  Within  three  days  after 
those  lawless  acts  of  violence,  at  Antioch, 
California,  which  have  been  fully  reported 
in  the  secular  press,  and  which  resulted  in 
the  entire  destruction  of  the  Chinese  quarters 
and  homes,  the  South  San  Francisco  Anti- 


*  Other  statements  of  Mr.  Pond,  which  will  appear  in 
the  next  issue  of  the  American  Missionary,  will  throw 
needed  light  upon  certain  matters  involved  in  this 
controversy.  The  following,  for  instance:  — 

"The  resolutions  adopted  at  the  monster  meeting  at 
Union  Hall  were  adjusted  for  meridians  on  the  Atlantic 
slope,  and  are  comparatively  moderate  in  tone.  The 
talk  at  the  numerous  '  Anti-Coolie  '  clubs  organized  in 
various  parts  of  the  city  is  less  guarded.  And  the 
conduct  to  which  our  '  hoodlum '  element  now  feels 
itself  set  free  is  more  shameless  and  disgraceful  still. 
Some  parade  has  been  made  of  the  fact  that  on  the 
evening  of  that  great  meeting,  notwithstanding  the 
intense  excitement  of  the  people,  no  Chinaman  suffered 
violence.  This  is  not  true,  as  one,  at  least,  of  our 
teachers  could  feelingly  testify;  but  that  it  is  so  nearly 
true,  is  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that  the  Chinese  kept 
closed  doors  and  themselves  within  the  doors.  They 
have  felt  the  need  of  doing  this,  more  or  less,  ever 
since." 


66  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

Cooly  Club  and  the  Young  Men's  Universal 
Reform  Society  passed  resolutions  indorsing 
the  destruction  of  the  Chinese  quarters  in 
Antioch,  and  advocating  a  similar  course  in 
San  Francisco,  unless  the  federal  govern 
ment  take  immediate  steps  to  abate  Chinese 
immigration. 

Bitter,  insane,  almost  murderous  must  be 
the  intent  when  a  limited  part  of  this  country 
threatens  death  or  ruin  to  human  beings  un 
less  the  general  government  complies  with 
certain  sectional  demands.  Considering 
these  matters  merely  in  a  political  light, 
such  behavior  and  expressions  are  enough, 
it  would  seem,  to  fever  the  blood  of  any  re 
publican  ;  while,  looking  upon  them  from  a 
Christian  point  of  view,  there  can  be  no 
ground  for  division  of  sentiment.  We  can 
not  be  Christians,  and  go  on  our  way  to  our 
temple  service  or  merchandise  indifferent  to 
these  claims  for  defence  and  help.  Blind 
ness  and  indifference  are  sins.  Can  anyone 
doubt  what  would  be  Christ's  course  respect 
ing  this  unfortunate  people,  struck  down  in 
our  very  path,  moaning  and  bleeding?  The 
Christian  is  a  Christ-man ;  he  is  to  speak  as 


THE.  CHINESE    PROBLEM.  67 

Christ  would  speak,  and  do  by  those  unfor 
tunates  as  He  would  do.  Recall,  therefore, 
his  words  to  the  lawyer,  and  draw  the  infer 
ence.  "Which  now  of  these  three,  think- 
est  thou,  was  neighbor  unto  him  that  fell 
among  the  thieves  ?  And  he  said,  He  that 
shewed  mercy  on  him.  Then  said  Jesus 
unto  him,  Go,  and  do  thou  likewise." 

Thus  far  nothing  is  found  standing  in 
the  way  of  attempting  the  conversion  of  the 
Chinese,  while  our  Christian  obligations  are 
found  to  be  unquestionable  and  imperative. 
But  did  we  pause  at  this  point,  an  incorrect 
impression  would  be  left,  for,  in  spite  of  all 
the  difficulties  and  hinderances  recounted, 
something  worthy  of  note  has  been  accom 
plished  in  the  way  of  the  conversion  of  these 
slandered  foreigners.  In  San  Francisco 
alone,  Christian  Chinese  are  now  numbered 
by  hundreds  ;  and  what  is  especially  encour 
aging  is,  that  the  progressive  increase,  as  to 
the  lapse  of  time,  has  been  with  more  than 
geometric  ratios. 

During  the  year  ending  December,  1875, 
there  were  more  conversions  than  during 
the  whole  twenty  years  preceding.  We 


68  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

have  before  us  a  report  of  a  church  in  San 
Francisco,  which  for  two  years,  ending 
August,  1874,  received  thirty-one  Chinese 
converts,  but  for  the  six  months  ending 
August,  1875,  thirty-nine  were  received;  a 
larger  number  during  six  months  than  dur 
ing  the  preceding  two  years. 

A  few  words  at  this  point  as  to  the  meth 
ods  of  missionary  labor  among  the  Chinese 
will  pave  the  way  for  certain  deductions  we 
desire  to  make.  As  early  as  1852  or  1853, 
Rev.  S.  V.  Blakeslee  proposed  to  introduce 
the  Chinese  of  California  to  the  truths  of  the 
Scriptures  by  teaching  them  English,  in 
stead  of  teaching  their  teachers  Chinese. 
The  times  not  being  ripe  for  such  a  move, 
efforts  were  abandoned,  in  the  main,  until 
1870,  when  General  C.  H.  Howard  visited 
California  under  the  direction  of  the  Amer 
ican  Missionary  Association,  and  established 
several  schools  upon  essentially  the  same 
plan  as  that  originated  by  Mr.  Blakeslee. 
If  we  are  not  mistaken,  this  method  is  the 
one  also  employed  in  both  the  Baptist  and 
Methodist  mission  schools.  A  late  number 
of  the  American  Missionary,  in  an  article 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  6p 

by  their  California  superintendent,  states  the 
ground  for  adopting  this  method :  "  The 
Scriptures  in  Chinese  are  not  as  useful 
among  the  common  people  of  China  as  we 
had  at  first  supposed.  The  number  who 
can  read  in  their  own  tongue  is  compara 
tively  small ;  and  even  of  those  who  can 
pronounce  the  characters,  very  few  compre 
hend  the  ideas  which  they  represent.  Read 
ing,  as  taught  in  the  primary  schools  of 
China,  is  mechanical  and  almost  meaning 
less.  Among  those  of  our  converts  who 
can  read  in  Chinese,  the  majority  would 
turn  from  their  Chinese  translation  to  our 
English  version,  to  learn  what  they  had  been 
reading  about." 

When  these  American-speaking  evening 
mission  schools  were  opened,  the  Chinese 
were  invited  to  attend  for  the  purpose  of 
learning  the  English  language.  They  en 
tered  the  schools  on  the  ground  of  such  in 
ducements,  in  order  especially  the  better  to 
qualify  themselves  to  engage  in  traffic ;  yet 
it  was  with  the  known  fact  that  the  Bible 
was  to  be  the  text  and  reading-book,  while 
the  chief  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  Chris- 


7O  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

tian  teachers  was  to  give  religious  instruc 
tion. 

It  often  happened  that  there  sprang  up  a 
warm  personal  friendship  between  the  pupils 
and  the  teacher ;  they  listened  with  sincere 
respect  to  every  testimony  concerning  Chris 
tianity.  Two  evenings  of  the  week,  with 
out  objection  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese, 
were  devoted  to  special  devotional  exercises* 
Such  have  been,  in  the  main,  the  methods 
adopted  in  the  mission  schools. 

Chinese  performing  domestic  service  like 
wise,  in  many  instances,  have  received  re 
ligious  instruction  at  the  hands  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  families  in  which  the  service  is 
rendered ;  so  that  we  at  present  have  this 
result :  The  Chinese  enrolled  in  mission 
schools,  and  consequently  under  religious 
training,  and  those  who  are  receiving  re 
ligious  instruction  in  private  families,  are 
already  numbered  by  thousands.  Those 
who  have  faith  in  the  power  of  Christianity 
are  not,  therefore,  surprised  when  told  that 
there  are  at  the  present  time  hundreds  of  as 
earnest  and  devoted  souls  among  the  China 
men  as  can  be  found  among  any  other  peo- 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  fl 

pie  who  bear  the  Christian  name.  These 
darkened  souls  are  thus  finding  "  something 
better  than  they  sought,  even  the  eternal 
riches  of  righteousness." 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  our  Christian 
readers  to  have  a  few  practical  illustrations 
of  the  kind  of  converts  that  are  developed 
from  these  Chinese  while  under  mission- 
school  instruction  and  influence.  We  clip 
the  following  from  a  California  daily :  — 

"  A  Chinaman  had  set  down  his  basket  to  rest  him 
self  near  the  corner  of  Mason  Street.  Three  well- 
dressed  boys,  aged  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years,  came 
along  on  their  way  to  school.  Unable  to  resist  the 
temptation  to  commit  a  crime,  they  each  stole  what 
vegetables  they  could  take  conveniently  in  their  hands, 
—  principally  tomatoes,  —  ran  off  a  short  distance,  and 
pelted  the  Chinaman.  A  gentleman  who  gave  us  the 
incident  went  up  to  the  Chinaman,  and  said,  '  Why  do 
you  stand  still  and  permit  such  a  thing  ?  Why  did  you 
not  throw  one  of  those  rocks,  and  punish  the  young 
rascals?'  He  replied,  'Me  no  punishee  him  now. 
Byrne  by  we  alee  go  up  here  (pointing  heavenward) ; 
God  punishee  him  for  me  alee  same.'  Astonished  at 
the  reply,  the  gentleman  asked  'John '  where  he  learned 
that.  '  O,  me  go  Sunday  school  and  mission  school. 
Good  teacherman  show  me  hdw  I  makee  good  man.'  " 

What  better  illustration  of  the  spirit  en- 


72  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

joined  upon  the  Gentiles  by  Paul  could  be 
desired  —  "If  it  be  possible,  as  much  as 
lieth  in  you,  live  peaceably  with  all  men. 
Dearly  beloved,  avenge  not  yourselves,  but 
rather  give  place  unto  wrath ;  for  it  is  writ 
ten,  Vengeance  is  mine ;  I  will  repay,  saith 
the  Lord"  (Romans  xii.  18,  19). 

We  quote  the  folio  wing. from  the  Oakland 
(California)  Transcript :  — 

"  There  was  a  very  remarkable  incident  on  Christmas 
night,  which  ought  not  to  escape  local  record.  It  was 
humble  in  conception,  but  grand  and  impressive  in  its 
association  of  ideas  ;  and  we  shall  not  presently  forget 
the  strange  sensations  produced.  A  number  of  reli 
gious  and  other  well-disposed  persons  had  collected 
under  the  awning  on  the  corner  of  Ninth  Street  and 
Broadway,  where  they  raised  a  revival  hymn,  which 
was  succeeded  by  prayer  and  brief  exhortations  by 
various  persons.  It  was  dark  and  rainy,  and  the  faces 
of  the  worshippers  were  hardly  recognizable,  there  be 
ing  no  street  lamp  on  that  corner,  and  the  stores  being 
closed.  The  voices  of  the  extempore  preachers  re 
sounded  far  up  and  down  the  street,  and  the  rich  melo 
dy  of  the  '  Missionary  Hymn '  rolled  through  the  oaken 
groves. 

"  Presently  a  strange  voice  was  heard,  harsh,  discor 
dant,  with  a  distinctive  foreign  accent,  yet  pronouncing 
the  English  words  with  tolerable  fluency  and  correct 
ness.  A  little  boy  ran  and  lit  the  stump  of  a  candle, 


triSTIVERSITY 


THE   CHINESE   PROBLEM.  73 

and  stuck  it  up  on  an  awning-post  for  the  man  to  preach 
by  ;  and  when  the  feeble  rays  were  shed  abroad,  lo  !  it 
was  a  Chinaman  !  a  common  laborer  in  his  blue  blouse, 
and  with  his  long  queue  twisted  round  his  shaven  head, 
in  short,  precisely  such  a  Chinaman  as  good  little  Chris 
tian  boys  throw  stones  at.  He  stood  upon  a  store-box, 
and  spoke  forth  the  words  of  truth  and  soberness  with 
wonderful  vehemence  and  power,  gesticulating  vigor 
ously  and  rapidly,  after  the  manner  of  his  people  when 
they  are  in  great  earnest,  and  with  his  swarthy  face  all 
aglow  with  the  inspiration  of  his  emancipated  soul.  He 
quoted  passage  after  passage  from  the  Scriptures  accu 
rately  and  with  appositeness  to  the  subject  of  his  dis 
course,  referred  to  the  great  occasion  which  was  that 
day  being  celebrated  by  his  American  countrymen  ;  told 
how  his  own  heart  was  lighted  up  and  overflowing  with 
joy  and  love  of  Christ,  of  whom  he  had  heard  only  a 
few  years  ago  ;  and  earnestly  pleaded  with  the  uncon 
verted  to  come  and  drink  of  the  waters  of  salvation. 
He  related  that  he  had  been  a  house-servant  up  on 
Puget  Sound,  in  Washington  Territory  ;  that  the  lady 
had  taught  him  to  read,  and  had  told  him  the  story  of 
redemption,  and  that  he  and  his  mistress  had  long  and 
earnestly  debated  the  relative  wisdom  and  goodness  of 
Confucius  and  Jesus  Christ.  At  length  the  good  evangel 
ist  prevailed  over  heathen  darkness,  and  a  blessed  light 
was  kindled  and  shed  abroad  around  the  poor  China 
man,  who  would  after  a  while  return  to  his  heathen 
countrymen,  laden,  not  with  gold,  but  the  more  precious 
burden  of  salvation. 

"  At  the  conclusion  of  this  brief  but  most  eloquent 
sermon,    another    Chinaman    stood    upon    the    box, 


74  THE    CHINESE    RROBLEM. 

held  his  hand  over  his  face,  —  like  Moses  before  the 
burning  bush,  —  and  made  an  earnest  and  impressive 
prayer ;  so  concluding  such  a  street  scene  as  we  had 
never  before  beheld.  So,  indeed,  the  echoes  of  the 
gospel  trumpet  have  at  length  returned  to  us." 

Surely  these  heathen,  too,  are  included 
in  the  final  invitation  of  Revelation  :  "  And 
the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And 
let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come.  And 
let  him  that  is  athirst  come.  And  whoso 
ever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life 
freely"  (Rev.  xxii.  17). 

A  Chinese  convert,  by  the  name  of  Gee 
Gam,  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  Mr.  Pond,  gives  the 
experience  of  one  of  his  companions  thus  :  — 

"  Another  has  been  believing  in  Jesus  for  some 
months,  and  has  given  up  everything  to  serve  Christ 
except  one  thing,  and  that  was  the  worship  of  ancestors, 
for  he  said  that  he  was  the  only  child  of  his  mother, 
and  it  would  surely  break  her  heart  if  she  knew  that 
he  had  forsaken  the  worship  of  his  forefathers  ;  and  he 
also  said  that  it  would  be  very  dishonorable  to  give  it  up. 
But  this  stumbling-block  was  finally  removed  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God,  and  he  is  now  a  sincere  Christian." 

It  thus  appears  that  the  Lord's  method 
with  the  Chinese  is  much  the  same  as  with 
all  other  Gentiles.  As  He  saith,  "Think 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  75 

not  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace  on  earth ; 
I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword.  For 
I  am  come  to  set  a  man  at  variance  against 
his  father,  and  the  daughter  against  her 
mother,  and  the  daughter-in-law  against  her 
mother-in-law.  And  a  man's  foes  shall  be 
they  of  his  own  household.  He  that  loveth 
father  or  mother  more  than  Me,  is  not  worthy 
of  Me ;  and  he  that  loveth  son  or  daughter 
more  than  Me,  is  not  worthy  of  Me  "  (Matt. 

x.  34-37)- 

Says  Wong  Sam,  in  a  published  letter  :  — 

"When  I  first  came  to  this  country,  I  did  not  think 
Jesus  was  a  benefit  to  our  souls.  But  now  I  know  He 
is  the  true  God,  because  it  was  said,  '  Whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life.' 
I  hope  that  all  our  countrymen  will  try  to  learn  it.  But 
in  China  those  who  live  in  the  villages  don't  know  Jesus, 
and  never  heard  of  Him.  I  am  sorry  I  cannot  go  home. 
If  I  could  fly,  I  would  go  home  immediately,  and  tell 
how  good  and  how  kind  Jesus  is." 

Here  is  the  same  spirit  that  thrilled  and 
inspired  the  poor  woman  of  Samaria,  of 
whom  we  read  :  "  And  upon  this  came  his 
disciples,  and  marvelled  that  he  talked  with 
the  woman  :  yet  no  man  said,  What  seekest 


76  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

thou?  or,  Why  talkest  them  with  her?  The 
woman  then  left  her  water-pot,  and  went 
her  way  into  the  city,  and  saith  to  the  men, 
Come,  see  a  man  which  told  me  all  things 
that  ever  I  did:  is  not  this  the  Christ?" 
(John  iv.  27-29.) 

A  Chinese  lad,  Lee  Gim,  connected  with 
the  Harvard  Presbyterian  Mission  Sunday 
School,  was  converted,  and  shortly  after 
sickened  and  died.  His  mind  was  clear  to 
the  last,  and  he  died  singing  religious  hymns 
and  urging  his  companions  to  become 
Christians.  Eight  of  his  friends  were  so 
affected  by  the  beauty  and  strength  of  his 
devotion,  and  by  the  glory  of  his  death,  that 
they  gave  their  hearts  to  Jesus,  and  are 
hopeful  and  devoted  converts. 

These  are  representative  of  testimonies 
and  experiences  which  are  now  numbered 
by  hundreds.  Can  any  person  who  has 
been  regenerated,  and  has  come  into  pos 
session  of  a  Christian  consciousness,  fail  to 
quickly  interpret  these  countersigns  and 
pass-words  of  our  religious  faith? 

Now  we  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  these 
converts  were  but  lately  completely  shroud- 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  77 

ed  in  their  heathen  superstitions.  In  the 
words  spoken  recently  at  the  anniversary 
of  a  Chinese  Sunday  school  in  San  Francis 
co,  by  Fung  Affoo,  a  convert :  — 

"  All  these  who  have  been  converted  were  the  haters 
of  Christianity.  Many  of  them  had  threatened  their 
Christian  countrymen  with  death  on  account  of  forsaking 
idolatry  and  the  worship  of  their  ancestors  ;  but  God's 
Holy  Spirit  came  upon  them  and  changed  their  mind 
and  heart  entirely.  They  turned  away  from  idolatry, 
and  came  to  Jesus,  and  now  they  '  love  the  things  which 
once  they  hated,  and  hate  the  things  which  once  they 
loved.'  This  is  a  wonderful  work  of  God,  accomplished 
through  Christian  teachers.  The  propagation  of  Chris 
tianity  has  a  bright  prospect  in  the  future,  though  it 
may  seem  dark  to  some  persons.  With  God  there  is 
nothing  impossible.  He  knows  how  to-  accomplish  his 
great  and  wise  purposes.  Therefore,  kind  teachers, 
work  on  !  in  due  season  you  will  see  the  results  of  your 
labors  upon  us.  We  do  sincerely  thank  you  for  the 
good  you  have  done  to  us.  We  hope  you  will  continue 
to  teach  us  the  Word  of  God.  When  your  mission  is 
done  on  earth,  God  in  heaven  will  have  a  place  prepared 
for  you." 

We  may  add  that  what  we  personally  have 
seen  and  heard,  the  earnest  shake  of  the 
hand,  the  glistening  eye,  the  expressions, 
"Me  a  Christian,"  "Jesus  take  all  my  sin," 


78  '  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

and  the  like,  lead  us  to  indorse  without  qual- 
cation  the  statement  of  one  of  the  teach- 
rs  and  preachers  to  this  people :  "  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that,  in  the  light  of  my  ob- 
servation'thus  far,  I  have  less  reason  to  be 
doubtful  in  these  cases  than  in  a  like  num 
ber   reported    as    converts    among  my  own 
countrymen." 

After  their  conversion,  the  Chinese  of 
Congregationalist  missions  join  the  Associ 
ation  of  Christian  Chinese,  whose  constitu 
tion  is  much  like  that  of  our  eastern  Chris 
tian  associations.*  They  remain  there  on 

*  The  following  are  the  Regulations  of  the  Congrega 
tional  Association  of  Christian  Chinese.  They  were  orig 
inally  written  in  the  Chinese  language,  and  in  that  form 
adopted  unanimously,  framed,  and  hung  on  the  wall  in 
the  room  of  the  association,  so  as  to  be  read  and  un 
derstood  by  every  one  proposing  to  join  the  associa 
tion.  They  were  translated  by  Fung  Affoo. 

"  i st.  The  organization  of  this  society  is  to  encour 
age  morals  and  Christianity  among  its  members.  Each 
member  is  bound  to  respect  the  honor  of  the  associa 
tion,  and  live,  as  far  as  possible,  so  as  not  to  bring  re 
proach  upon  its  good  name.  The  members  are  pledged 
to  love  one  another,  and  to  watch  over,  care  for,  and 
help  one  another. 

"  3d.  Any  one  who  desires  to  become  a  member  of 
this  association  must  forsake  idolatry  and  all  bad  habits, 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  79 

trial  for  six  months,  and  then  if,  after  a  care 
ful  examination  before  a  church  committee, 
they  are  found  worthy,  they  are  baptized  and 
received  into  the  different  American  Congre- 
gationalist  churches.  Such  are  the  efforts 
and  methods  employed  to  Christianize  the 
Chinese,  and  such  the  results. 

It  is  in  view  of  these  facts  and  possibili 
ties,  also  in  view  of  much  additional  data, 
to  which  reference  could  be  made,  that  we 
seem  prepared  for  certain  important  and 
comprehensive  deductions.  The  first  is,  that 
God's  purpose  in  giving  this  American  con- 

and  prove  himself  to  be  a  follower  of  Christ.  He  must 
bring  references  from  one  or  more  of  the  members. 
His  name  must  be  brought  before  the  society  a  week 
before  he  can  be  admitted ;  and  he  is  received  upon  a 
vote  of  two  thirds  of  the  members.  He  must  himself 
sign  his  name,  and  pay  the  sum  of  two  dollars  as  en 
trance  fee,  and  twenty-five  cents  every  three  months,  his 
money  being  used  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  associ 
ation.  He  is  expected  to  do  all  he  can  to  bring  in  new 
me.mbers,  and  to  lead  his  countrymen  to  Christ. 

"3d.  The  members  are  expected  to  take  part  in  the 
meetings  for  worship,  giving  counsel  and  encourage 
ment  to  one  another.  If  any  member  does  wrong,  he 
is  to  be  kindly  entreated,  and  led  back  to  the  right. 

"  6th.  If  any  member  continue  in  the  violation  of  the 


8O  THE   CHINESE   PROBLEM. 

tinent  to  the  English-speaking  people  was 
not  that  they  should  monopolize  it ;  it  was 
not  that  they  might'  have  opportunities 
merely  to  engage  in  land  speculations  or 
traffic  and  become  rich,  nor  to  be  rocked  in 
cradles  or  sent  to  bed,  but  that  they  might 
have  the  grandest  opportunities  ever  given 
to  any  people  to  instruct  the  nations  of  the 
earth  in  those  sublime  methods  that  "  make 
for  righteousness  "  and  peace. 

Consider  for  a  moment  the  marvellous 
natural  superiorities  of  our  land  in  its  posi 
tion,  physical  features,  and  extent,  over 

regulations  of  the  association,  after  three  successive  re 
monstrances,  he  must  be  expelled  from  the  association. 
If  he  afterwards  repent  and  desire  to  come  back,  he  is 
admitted  without  an  entrance  fee,  his  admittance  de 
pending  upon  the  sincerity  of  his  repentance,  as  judged 
by  the  members  of  the  association. 

"  7th.  If  any  member  become  engaged  in  serious 
quarrel  with  an  outsider,  and  injure  him,  the  offender 
shall  be  sent  to  court  by  the  members  of  the  associa 
tion. 

"  8th.  If  any  member  desires  to  go  back  to  China,  he 
must  give  notice  to  the  association  one  month  before 
hand.  He  must  not  go  until  he  has  paid  all  his  debts 
here ;  if  he  is  really  obliged  to  go  before  he  can  pay  his 
debts,  he  must  find  some  one  who  will  be  security  for 
him." 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  8l 

those  of  the  old  world.*  America,  on  the 
one  hand,  is  a  narrow  continent,  and  hence 
is  better  watered  by  the  ocean  winds  than 
the  old  world,  which,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
wider,  and  contains  in  many  places  rainless 
interiors.  The  mountains  on  our  east  are 
low,  while  the  eastern  ranges  of  the  old 
world  are  high,  and  thus  make  possible  a 
Sahara.  We  have  in  each  year  one  hun 
dred  and  fifteen  inches  of  rain,  the  eastern 
world  has  but  seventy-seven. 

Our  western  continent  has  greater  river 
systems,  and  its  flat  plains  lie  neither  under 
the  northern  snows  nor  in  the  tropics.  The 
mountain  ranges  of  America  run  north  and 
south,  giving  us  the  sun  on  both  sides  of  the 
mountains  ;  those  of  the  old  world,  east  and 
west.  Our  great  ocean  inlets  are  in  the  trop 
ics,  and  our  arable  soil  in  the  temperate 
zone  ;  thus  our  land  is  narrow  where  the  sun 
is  most  scorching,  while  the  old  world  is 
wide  on  the  equator ;  yet  the  little  land  that 
we  have  at  this  place  is  high,  where,  in  the 

*  We  are  largely  indebted  to  Rev.  Joseph  Cook  for 
the  accompanying  statements  respecting  our  terri 
tory. 

6 


82  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

old  world,  it  is  low.  Surely  we  are  a  chosen 
people,  having  a  chosen  inheritance.  - 

The  extent  of  the  arable  soil  in  the  United 
States  transcends  conception.  It  is  more 
than  that  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa  com 
bined.  It  is  so  immense  that,  should  China 
empty  her  five  hundred  millions  of  people 
upon  our  shores  (of  which  there  is  no  dan 
ger)  ,  we  could  still  find  room  for  more ; 
according  to  the  estimates  of  those  who  have 
given  attention  to  these  matters,  our  country 
has  ample  capacity  for  thirty-six  hundred 
million  human  beings,  —  a  number  five 
times  greater  than  the  present  population  of 
the  globe.  Who  are  we,  therefore,  that  we 
should  block  our  ports,  put  down  fence- 
posts,  and  interdict  immigration  to  these 
favorite  and  vast  domains? 

But  again,  as  it  appears  to  us,  we  as  a 
nation  stand  in  a  somewhat  similar  relation 
to  the  rest  of  the  world  as  that  in  which 
Jerusalem  stood  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  to 
the  Roman  empire.  At  that  time,  God  by 
a  wonderful  providence  had  united  in  one 
mind,  under  one  authority,  almost  in  one 
language,  Italy,  the  two  Gauls,  Great  Brit- 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  83 

ain,  Sicily,  Greece,  Africa,  and  Asia ;  He 
had  thus  also  prepared  those  great  military 
roads  over  which  Christianity  could  travel 
to  "  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  "  He  then  waited 
until  the  popular  heart  was  ripe.  Then  it 
was  that  Christ  came  ;  He  taught  the  multi 
tudes  at  every  great  feast  during  His  min 
istry  ;  He  was  crucified  during  one  of  the 
feast  occasions ;  and  on  another  feast-day, 
when  multitudes  were  gathered  in  the  city, 
"Parthians,  and  Medes,  and  Elamites,  and 
the  dwellers  in  Mesopotamia,  and  in  Judea, 
and  Cappadocia,  in  Pontus,  and  Asia,  Phry- 
gia,  and  Pamphylia,  in  Egypt,  and  in  the 
parts  of  Libya  about  Cyrene,  and  strangers 
of  Rome,  Jews  and  proselytes,  Cretes  and 
Arabians,"  was  the  Spirit  poured  out  upon 
the  multitudes ;  and  every  man  returned  to 
his  own  people  proclaiming  the  wonderful 
things  of  God.  Such  was  the  divine  method 
at  the  first  Pentecost,  and  at  the  great  reli 
gious^  conquests  that  followed. 

The  United  States,  with  a  most  liberal 
form  of  government,  which  has  given  a 
welcome  to  all  nations,  have  not  sprung 
into  being  by  accident,  any  more  than  did 


84  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

the  Roman  empire.  From  the  earliest 
stages  of  our  civil  and  political  develop 
ment  can  be  seen  the  shaping  and  interfer 
ence  of  divine  Providence.  The  Infinite 
One,  in  all  these  years,  if  we  mistake  not, 
has  been  preparing  events  for  a  second 
Pentecost  in  harmony  with  the  prayers  that 
have  been  offered  since  the  first;  He  is 
waiting  until  the  ripe  moment ;  then,  when 
men  think  night  has  come,  the  morning  of 
a  world's  redemption  will  dawn,  and  nations 
will  be  born  in  a  day ;  not,  if  we  rightly 
judge,  through  the  agency  of  distinctively 
foreign  missionary  efforts  and  methods,  but 
by  the  method  and  with  the  results  of  the 
day  of  Pentecost; 

It  is  in  the  light  of  such  a  view  that  the 
Chinese  in  this  country  are  to  be  regarded 
by  the  Christian  world.  They  are  not  here 
by  accident,  nor  merely  by  human  policies 
and  contrivances.  The  treaties  of  1858, 
brought  about  by  the  East  India  Company, 
resulted,  it  is  true,  in  sending  to  our  shores 
these  multitudes  of  Chinese,  but  there  were 
also  divine  methods  ;  the  same  year  that  the 
treaty  was  formed  witnessed  the  death  of  the 


THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM.  85 

East  India  Company.  The  Pacific  Mail 
Company,  purely  for  the  purposes  of  pe 
cuniary  profits,  has  brought  the  Chinamen 
to  California ;  there  are  reasonable  grounds 
for  the  supposition  that  when  this  kind  of 
transportation  stops,  the  Pacific  Mail  Com 
pany  will  likewise  find  its  grave.  The  Chi 
nese  were  at  first  welcomed,  simply  because 
their  labor  was  needed ;  but  they  will  re 
main  long  after  their  labor  is  not  needed  by 
the  parties  who  first  gave  them  employment. 
God  meanwhile  has  been  maturing  His 
plans ;  to  thwart  which,  or  to  check  Him, 
is  impossible.  King  Canute  placed  his 
royal  chair  in  the  way  of  the  rising  tide ; 
but  the  tide  rose  notwithstanding.  The 
great  military  roads  of  the  Roman  empire 
were  no  more  necessary  for  divine  pur 
poses,  nor  inevitable,  than  is  the  ocean  line 
of  steamers  between  San  Francisco  and 
Hong  Kong.  w  Man  proposes,  God  dis 
poses." 

As  it  appears  to  us,  therefore,  of  all  the 
grand  movements  going  forward  in  this 
world,  nay,  the  grandest  to  be  found  on  any 
page  of  history,  is  the  one  which  is  now 


86  THE    CHINESE    PROBLEM. 

transpiring  upon  our  shores,  and  if  the  Pa 
cific  states  attempt  to  arrest  these  majestic 
developments  of  Providence,  they  will  find 
that  their  remonstrances  are  of  but  trifling 
account  in  the  councils  of  Heaven,  and  that 
they  will  be  smitten  or  crushed  if  they  offer 
persistent  and  violent  resistance. 

Let  our  entire  country  arise  from  its  im 
moral  and  unchristian  practices ;  let  Cali 
fornia  adopt  liberal  educational  measures, 
and  infuse  intelligence  into  her  heathen 
masses ;  let  her  instruct  them  by  example 
and  precept  in  the  simple  yet  eternal  truths 
of  Protestant  Christianity, — then  we  shall 
have  heard  the  last  bitter  complaint  and 
curse  against  this  donation  of  one  of  the 
oldest  civilizations  of  the  world  to  our  own 
populations,  and  the  peculiar  and  perplexing 
Chinese  problem  will  be  solved  in  harmony 
with  the  principles  of  our  Christian  faith, 
and,  if  we  mistake  not,  in  accordance  also 
with  the  sublime  purposes  of  Him  who  is 
now  preparing  to  give  the  light  of  the  Gos 
pel  to  all  nations  of  the  earth. 


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